Realization
by EternalKing
Summary: Shirou Emiya wished upon the grail to send Miyu to another world. A world where she would live a good life, a happy life. But what's the worth of a world without family. Miyuverse Shirou sent to Fate/Zero. Will deviate from the canon
1. RealizationOver Zero

Realization

Shirou Emiya wished upon the grail to send Miyu to another world. A world where she would live a good life. But whats the worth of a world without family. Fate/Zero with Miyuverse Shirou.

AN: The title below has a "/" that is meant to be read as over. And this isn't the best work but it's just a set up.

Realization/Zero

One dreamt of a world of peace, but saw only death.

One dreamt of a world of smiles, but saw only tears.

One dreamt of a world's salvation, but did not grasp it.

The one that could not save the world-In the end he could only protect the happiness of a girl.

I knew what I wanted was deplorable in its own right. I forsook salvation when it would cost nothing more than a single life, and yet...

-Well in the end. I chose what I thought was right, but how can I say it was not wrong.

I fought battle after battle. I sustained wounds that would kill a lesser man, I used up more energy in these battles than I ever would have in my life without them.

But I kept fighting, I had no other choice but to fight, nothing else to fight for but her, nothing else I could hold close to my heart for they were all stolen away.

There was no justice in damning the world. The justice I was taught by that man would sooner kill me for trying this. But humans cannot always succeed their dreams. Sometimes they can only make decisions.

When that small girl made her wish to the stars; that's when I made mine.

-I chose to stop being a shell, to start being real.

So I conquered the battles in front of me.

An assassin, filled with bloodlust.

A caster, desiring only to live.

A lancer, with a nasty grin full of pride.

A rider, who cared for nothing in the world.

A berserker, who destroyed all in front of him.

And a Saber, who entrusted something to me.

I prevailed, and became the winner of the Holy Grail War.

And following that strange priest's words I left for her.

It was at the altar underneath Mount Enzo that directly connected to the Holy Grail system of Fuyuki City where I would find her.

My younger sister that Kiritsugu and I adopted into our family years ago. The one that meant to be sacrificed for the sake of humanity. To save the world from its destruction.

"B-Big brother…?"

I smiled, kneeling before the altar. "I'm sorry for making you wait so long…"

"W-Why…" her gaze was full of sorrow and sadness. It made my heart clench and twist in the most painful of ways. Not even a sword could do such a thing. "Why did you come? I… heard it from those people…"

I stayed silent and let her talk.

"Those people told me the reason why you and Kiritsugu-san took me in," Miyu began to choke back on a sob. "It was to use my power… that all I was, was a tool to be used. That in Kiritsugu's place they would find a way to use me… to save the world."

Tears seeped out at the corner of her eyes. The pain from the thought of being used and discarded away like trash hurt her more than anything else. She was afraid. She didn't wish to die. She didn't want to be used as a tool.

"So then why! Why did you come here!?"

Emiya Miyu. That was the girl I saw in front of me. Not what she described. In fact it couldn't be anything else but the opposite.

I closed my eyes as I pulled out the seven class cards, including my own, out of my pocket. A sign that I had defeated the other six participants in the Holy Grail War. Even if this card was fake in a way, it had its uses.

"This goes without saying…" Focusing prana into the cards, they levitated out of my hands in front of me in a circle. "…I'm an older brother," my smile returns. "So I have to protect my younger sister don't I?"

Her face turns into astonishment. I wish I would be able to see more expressions of hers.

"You know," I say tiredly. "I've been trying to figure out what to do. Honestly it's been one mistake after another with me, so… maybe this might be one too." I kneeled back down to take her hand into mine. "Nonetheless for this alone is absolutely true…"

I took a deep breath. There was no going back. But in the end-

"I wish upon the Holy Grail."

"I pray that you find a world where you won't suffer any longer. I pray that you meet kind people. I pray that you find great friends you can laugh with. I pray that you find… a warm, small share of happiness."

-this too...

The runes encircling the altar glowed to life. The Heaven's Feel acknowledged the wish I brought and accepted it fully.

"B…Brother!" Her golden-brown eyes slowly closed. My grip on her hand is released as she floated upwards to the ceiling of the cavern.

That was the end of everything I knew, but it also became the start of something new.

A life as a big brother.

A life in a new world, not heading forward imminent destruction like our own.

-Little did I know. Even happiness has its price sometimes. My Grail War hasn't ended yet it seems. But I won before. Nothing was stopping me from winning again- Nothing. And this time however, I wouldn't need to fight alone, nor would I lose anything.


	2. RealizationOne

Realization/One

Waking up in another world was much easier than Shirou thought.

He had woken up confused, and instinctively he was ready to lash out at whoever startled him. But luckily; he had focused on his little sister which prevented him from freaking out. He knew that his wish was supposed to have sent Miyu to a happier world, but he hadn't expected to literally get dragged together with her. Halfway through his fight with Angelica, he felt a tug on his body and suddenly he was being launched at bullet speed to catch up to Miyu.

From there he needed to quickly get himself and Miyu situated in the world. Traced money didn't have a big presence on Gaia, so they were able to last a few weeks before disappearing, while he did feel bad, he simply decided that it would be for the best in order to make sure Miyu and by proxy himself had somewhere safe until he could gain a steady income.

He enrolled Miyu into one of the schools while he ran worked in a Ramen shop. It was actually rather successful since many had sympathy for a brother/sister duo. It helped that Shirou was actually a good cook and Miyu was adorable. He briefly considered using his skill set to be a mercenary, and atone for his sin, but decided against it lest he attract unwanted attention and leave Miyu alone.

The two of them went by the name of Sakatsuki as Shirou wasn't entirely certain if a version of Emiya Kiritsugu or anyone else from his world was around, he only knew Miyu's former family weren't from investigation.

This Fuyuki was much nicer, he thought. The city was much fuller, more full of life than the other one. But lately it seemed that there was a serial killer on the loose preying on children mostly, which brought him to his current location in front of Miyu's school to pick her up.

He watched Miyu walk with her friend Rin as he thought to himself. He wished that the killer wasn't so quiet, he hunted the criminal as Miyu slept but the man was never around it seemed. But moving away his dark thoughts of stabbing a murderer, he looked at the jewels hanging around Rin. He knew for a fact that she was a magus, but he wasn't certain if he should separate her from Miyu. The girl seemed nice enough, but children couldn't stay children forever, even if they could keep certain aspects of their childhood personality. He simply warned Miyu to be careful of the girl when she was older as she was a magus.

"Hm? Miyu, is that your brother?" Rin asked since she noticed a red and white haired teen.

"A-ah!" Miyu ran over to Shirou, forcing Rin to run too in order to catch up. "Onii-chan, what are you doing here?"

Rin chipped in with a heated breath before Shirou could answer. "Don't you know how suspicious it is to just wait here?"

Shirou just laughed them both off. "Haha. It's not suspicious if I'm just here to pick up my sister. But it's rude to just jump to conclusions Rin."

The young girl puffed her red cheeks and prepared to say something to Shirou but was already interrupted by a pat on the head.

"You're quick to point fingers but you really are a good kid aren't you. It'd be nice if you could stay like that forever."

"A-A-" Rin clearly didn't know what to say but that just made Shirou chuckle.

The red cheeked girl slapped off his hand and turned around.

"A-anyways, my mom and I will be out of town for the next few days. Miyu make sure to be careful while I'm gone okay?" It seemed to Shirou that Rin knew something he didn't, the worry in her voice was prevalent. He doubted she was talking about the serial killer when she already dismissed him as a threat to her and her friends.

Miyu tipped her head but nodded anyways. "It's okay! Onii-chan will keep me safe."

Rin seemed a bit doubtful, but decided to accept Miyu's words nonetheless.

"Rin. I hope you've said goodbye to your friends."

A well dressed man in red and a woman in a charming dress walked up to them. Shirou knew these two were Rin's parents. Shirou could tell her father was a magus just from looking at his cane, her mother on the other seemed as normal as can be.

"Shirou-kun, thank you for looking after Rin." Aoi gave a graceful smile and bowed her head a bit.

"Haha, it's nothing much Mrs. Tohsaka. She's a good friend of my sister."

"To take care of your sister and yourself must not be easy but make sure to take care of yourself." Shirou noted to himself that Aoi was truly the ideal Nadeshiko Wife, Rin was likely to become quite a looker if her mother was any indication-although besides her attitude, Rin seemed to take after her father more.

"Sakatsuki-kun, you won't need to worry about my daughter for the next few weeks, you and your sister should keep yourselves under strict curfew as well to keep yourselves safe." Shirou wondered to himself if he should be surprised at Tokiomi's words, they weren't genuine, but likely he was saying it for Rin's sake more than anything else.

"By the way, how come you'll be leaving the city? Going on family vacation?" He tried to dig for information. Something special had to be going on if they were leaving. Or maybe they really did want to go on vacation-but he doubted it as Tokiomi seemed too focused on his 'work' and Aoi was too content to do nothing.

"I'm simply sending my family on a little trip while I have some important business to attend to."

Shirou just nodded. In the end it's not as if he could gain much information without threatening his and Miyu's secrets.

The siblings waved goodbye and left for their restaurant.

"Onii-chan, when do you think Rin will come back?" Miyu asked him. She was still trying to get used to having friends but her and Rin seemed to really hit it off.

"I'm not sure Miyu, but I'm sure it won't be long till she comes back. In fact maybe we should go on a little trip ourselves."

Miyu brightened up at that. "Maybe we can go see the ocean!"

He chuckled. "Well we're finally situated ourselves to the city, so maybe we can."

The two walked together in high spirits. They were an odd sight yet those who knew them couldn't deny they were siblings despite looking so different. They even reasoned that Shirous damaged hair was from the stress of raising Miyu alone.

"Onii-chan, can we stop by the park for a bit?"

Shirou couldn't really deny her since there wasn't a reason to. Miyu enjoyed sitting on the swings and talking to him. "Just for a bit okay?"

They weren't far from the nearest park, after about fifteen minutes they arrived though the park was mostly empty, likely due to the serial killer.

"Mostly empty" because there was a familiar looking girl to him, only far younger than the one he knew.

Shirou froze. Seeing the young girl was a reminder of yet another thing he lost-failed to protect.

A tug on his arm reminded him he wasn't alone, that he hadn't completely failed. He wasn't alone. He still had something true.

Even so, he had to act, because he saw eyes that he hadn't seen in a long time.

Eyes he had once seen in Miyu.

Eyes he had once seen in a girl that died for him.

Perhaps this would redeem him in some way.

But he needed to find out why she had eyes so dead. Neither he nor Sakura ever revealed anything about their home life. As far as he thought she was a normal girl.

But no normal girl would have-should have- eyes like that.

He wasn't sure what he could do.

But he had already resolved to do all he could.

XxXxXxXxX

Kariya wasn't too sure what he stumbled upon.

He brought Sakura to the park to keep her out of that retched house, but he needed to hide himself for a bit since he could feel one of his violent coughing fits coming up. He wanted to spare that ugly sight from Sakura.

Of course it had taken him some extra time to rest in order to make sure he looked okay, people might give them looks if they saw such a sickly man with a blank eyes young girl, so he needed to make sure he was healthy at least.

He didn't expect to see Sakura playing with a young girl her age.

"Ah, you must be Sakura's uncle." A young male voice startled him. He was too caught up in seeing Sakura act untroubled. It was a precious sight given how he hadn't fully succeeded in keeping her away from his-

"I'm Shirou, my sister Miyu is getting along pretty well with Sakura thankfully. To be honest she's a bit introverted." He turned to the one speaking to him. The male was somewhat golden eyed and wearing normal jeans with a blue and white shirt. His hair was a mix of White and Red. But his hair wasn't the only contrast about him, a part of his fair looking face looked as if it were harsh burnt.

A part of him thought they looked rather similar, damaged hair and looking after a young girl. He could only feel pity and respect to the younger man.

"I'm also glad that they are getting along. Sakura can have a... hard time having fun. Let me formally introduce myself, I'm Kariya Matou, I'm looking after Sakura since her father can't." A bit of poison leaked out at the mention of that heartless Tokiomi, but he was sure the young man didn't notice. He stuck out his hand for a handshake on instinct and internally winced since the young man no doubt had a firm grip.

He was immediately mistaken as the handshake was rather soft. But the soft grip didn't distract him from noticing the young mans hands felt rough.

As the handshake ended the other male leaned against one of the things in the playground. "This may seem rather nosy, but is everything okay with you? I thought I'd come find you since Sakura mentioned you were in a rush to hide somewhere, I saw you coughing blood pretty harshly."

Kariya immediately grimaced. He never did come up with a backstory since most people weren't about to pry into others matters. "I'm just a bit sickly taking care of Sakura and doing things for my own uncle."

"Well, you make sure to take care of yourself too, Sakura would feel sad if something happened to you. "

Kariya could only feel the weight on his shoulders increase. He never really entertained the thought of staying around to keep an eye on Sakura given how untrustworthy her parents proved to be. He always expected to die after the Holy Grail War given Zouken's worms put a strain on his body. And even if he did succeed there was nothing really ensuring Zouken or even Sakura's parents would keep the young girl safe.

Maybe he should use the Holy Grail for himself. Erasing his grandfather and healing him are two different things but they're still connected to the single wish of keeping Sakura safe. His grandfather may have been connected to his worms but he could resist them for a few seconds.

But for now he would leave the troublesome things for later. At the moment he just wants to enjoy Sakura being happy. She was getting along really well with that Miyu girl.

But he would remember to warn the young man as they leave. "It may be best to leave the city in the next few weeks. The thugs in the city are about to go to war."

It wasn't the truth, but the lie would keep the two safe and away.

Most people wouldn't take heed of those words. But the look in Shirou's eyes told him that he at least took his words into consideration.

XxXxXxXxX

Shirou walked slowly with Miyu's small hand in his own.

He was mostly trying to comprehend the new informations that he's gained over the day.

He found a younger, suffering version of his friend. And apparently her uncle shared Rin's fathers warnings on leaving the city. He naturally took their clear half lies somewhat seriously. Neither men seemed the sort to lie to a stranger on something so big.

Tokiomi was sending his family away from the city. Fact.

Kariya was caring after Sakura and truly understood Shirou's own protectiveness over another. Fact.

Both men walked the path of a Magus. Fact.

Granted, they clearly were in two different levels. Kariya had some sort of strange mystic code or familiars in his body to force himself to cast magecraft. These strange objects put a harsh strain on his body enough that he may die within the month at least. Tokiomi seemed to be much more gifted and specialized due to his wealth and the prana gems he carried.

Now what would cause both men to go to the extremes of self harm and sending one's family away?

Rin seemed to worry about a possible danger, one greater than a serial killer. She was not as talented in controlling her emotions as her father. But this worked in his favor.

Now, to analyze Tokiomi's words, he was sending out his family to deal with business, that much he knew was true, but what business required sending the two females away?

For Kariya, his half lie included doing something for his uncle, one that likely resulted in his piss poor condition.

If he took those three's words into consideration, it's entirely possible that Kariya was right in that criminal gangs were going to war, then there would put weight behind Tokiomi's words to stick to curfew. But then that wouldn't make sense as the two males were magi and therefore could simply hypnotize others.

Unless said 'war' involved other magi, in which case things escalated exponentially.

Shirou grimaced at the moon.

A sort of 'war' involving magi...that put a bad taste in his mouth.

But it may be best not to jump to conclusions. Magi or not, the Holy Grail War was not something easily set up and was quite possibly the worst conclusion he could come to.

Well, maybe not the worst, certainly one of the worst-he had enough confidence that he could win another Grail War if the chips came down to it.

Provided he didn't come against someone wielding a cheat card like Gilgamesh. He may have finally recovered from the side effects of his battles but he still doubted he could beat Angelica if they came to blows again.

"Onii-chan?" Miyu's voice broke him out of his thoughts.

"What is it Miyu?"

"You have a scary look on your face...do you need rest?" She looked visibly worried for him.

Shirou sighed and took his hand out of hers and wrapped it around her. "I'm just having some worrying thoughts about what I'll do when boys start looking at you."

Miyu blushed at his words and elbowed him. The dark haired girl turned to the side.

"O-onii-chan!"

Shirou gave an unseen smirk. "Do me a favor and never date boys okay? We're pretty dangerous to be around."

"Onii-chan isn't dangerous to be around...".

He only laughs in response.

Just as they arrive home his ears hear some sort of screaming.

"Hey Miyu, go on in, I'm gonna go talk to Manaka." His sister frowned at his words, not at all liking the blondish haired girl that constantly flirted with her brother. That weird girl didn't deserve him in her mind.

Still, she heeded his words like the good little sister she was. Having never really been on the more scheming side of Shirou, the thought of him lying to her never occurred.

It was only when he saw her close the door did he run to the roofs. Reinforcing his eyes and ears, he scanned the city block for what he heard.

He didn't hear anything after thirty seconds, making him wonder if he was hearing things, or if he was simply too late to act.

He wasn't sure which he feared more.

But ultimately, it was a smell, a disgusting, putrid smell that gave the location away.

But it wasn't just a normal smell. It was one brought about from magecraft. And it was clear that it wasn't something small like reinforcement.

He jumped across the dark rooftops to the origin of the smell. It wasn't far from his house, so it would be best not try and minimize damage. Miyu was smart, she might realize something happened and involved him.

He narrowed his eyes at the broken doorknob. Swiftly moving in the dark smell from before was accompanied with blood.

The first floor of the house wasn't in bad shape, though the fact that certain objects like lamps and plants were on the floor gave away that something happened. However a fallen photo alarmed him.

A family. One of which was a small girl he recognized as Miyu's friend. He didn't learn her name yet, though he was certain it was something like Yuki.

Thumping from the ceiling made him scowl.

Moving upwards he wished he had brought something to use as a weapon.

Just as he finished walking up the stairs he projected a small, normal dagger because he heard the scream of a young child.

"Ah! Hello monster-san! My name's Uryu Ryunosuke. My hobby is murder in general. I like kids and young women. Won't you take these sacrifices?" These words came from an orange haired man, directed to a...google eyed pale man with a book in his hand.

The scene itself wasn't as bad as he feared, in a way. The only blood he saw was on some sort of rune circle. The family were tied up and had some mostly superficial wounds except for one big cut on their arms.

However because it wasn't as bad as he originally feared, it became much worse than anything he had thought up.

That strange man was no human.

His body, made of prana, imitating humans. His book, a normal phantasm.

It was perhaps now, that he finally realized why he had a pit formed in his stomach and couldn't help but heed the warnings of the magi.

The Holy Grail War has begun. But this time...

Things were going to be even worse.

Shirou acted quickly, he threw the dagger at the man who introduced himself while he brought out a familiar looking card, one he never used until now. He kept them on his person simply because it was safer with him more than anything, though the archer card was still too unusable for him unless he wanted to start self-destructing again.

"Install!" Instantly, Shirou was garbed in pure black armor decorated with skulls. His face held a white skull mask overshadowed by a hood. In his hands were a large spiked shield and a plain black sword.

In the time it took for him to install, the google eyed man blasted away the dagger. Clearly, the danger Shirou currently posed in his Assassin Install inspired caution to him due to the skull mask's glowing red eyes. This made him carry the serial killer and make way for the roofs.

This suited Shirou just fine, the Assassin Install took away his Tracing ability, but it didn't take away his sense of smell. The only reason Shirou didn't immediately give chase was because he wanted to make sure the family was alright. Luckily the sight of his currently blue eyes seemed to make the parents faint while Yuki was already unconscious. He would have to remind himself to come back later to hypnotize them.

The skulls on his armor leaked out blue hazy flames and consumed his body. When they disappeared there was no one standing in his place.

It would be the same roof the two men would be talking on where he would appear cloaked in blue flames.

"Hey Bluebeard-sama? Who's the skeleton knight? He's so COOOOOL!"

The title of Bluebeard rang a bell in Shirou's mind, but he couldn't place it.

"Hmph! It seems this one intends on interrupting my journey to revive my precious Jeanne! I, Gilles de Rais will not allow God's machinations to go any further!"

It was his words that told Shirou all he needed to know. A nobleman who once fought with the Holy Flag Bearer. However upon his death the man became twisted and his actions spat upon both the woman he admired as well as the god he served. Thus was the life of Gilles de Rais.

Shirou spoke instinctively in a deep gravelly voice. "Disgusting Heathen. What doth one who bath in sin wish to prove other than one's rebellion? Thy own despair? Such wretched feelings will not endear thee to whom thou idolize. Fool. Hand over thy head." He stood straight with his sword and shield at his sides. His hand twitched and he was unsure if it was just the urge to kill the two in front of him or something else.

Gilles began to speak some sort of gibberish as his words brought about magecraft from his book. "I have arrived in this world as Caster for the sake of my Jeanne! I will not listen to your words!"

Dark mist fell from the book and formed some strange creatures about the size of a child. their form eventually became tentacled with spikes on them. They were true lovecraft abominations.

Shirou did not bother wasting time. With one quick slice, a few of the monsters were already cut down accompanied with the sound of multiple slashes.

"COOOL!"

"Hearken. The Evening Bell hath tolled thy name. [Azrael]!" Disappearing in a blue flame, the sound of a clank rang through as the abominations immediately disappeared.

However Shirou wasn't aiming only for the abominations. Both Ryunosuke and Gilles lost an arm each.

"Y-you…..!" Shirou watched at Ryunosuke seemed enamored with his missing arm while Gilles cursed at his offender.

"Gah!" Suddenly he was ejected out of his installed state. 'What the?'

Gilles had taken this moment of surprise to attack. A rush of dark mist came to sweep him away.

Acting quickly he instinctively traced the shield of the Heroic Spirit he was just using. It was a normal shield with nothing special about it, but it would buy him time. He slammed the shield to the ground and crouched. He reinforced himself and felt a greater drain on his circuits than usual.

The wave crashed into the spiked shield and split past him, barely even nudging him.

When the wave stopped he peaked out of the shield and saw Caster punching at him in rage. Shirou knew that getting hit would be a bad idea. The Servant Cards only gave portions of the Heroic Spirit's strength including their parameters, while Caster of course was summoned in a nonphysical class that did not mean Shirou could simply let himself get hit.

Bucking the shield upwards forced Caster backwards less he get stabbed and the insane man growled.

"I did not expect to use this so soon after my summoning, but I've become irritated by you!" The man chanted once more and Shirou could actually feel the prana emitting from the man.

But before he could finish chanting he summoned a tentacle in front of Ryunosuke who had passed out of blood loss by this point. In a show of gore that would have made Ryunosuke happy to see the tentacle exploded forcefully by a red projectile.

"How troublesome, I intended on wiping out your master to keep you from causing any trouble."

Shirou turned to the perhaps ally while keeping his shield pointed to Caster.

It was a man who he recognized immediately.

Caster shouted. "Curse you God! Even now you torture me!"

"Believe me, this is no act of God." A barrage of brightly colored lights that he could recognize as arrows shot towards the two.

"Shit!" Shirou moved his shield around in order to protect himself from the arrows.

Unlike the attack from Caster, this one blew Shirou backwards, though luckily the same happened to Caster.

"Don't think I'll forget this!" Caster grabbed his master with his one arm and disappeared in mist.

"Yare yare. That one is going to be a problem in the future no doubt."

"HEY! What was the deal shooting at me!" Shirou glared at the newcomer.

"I knew you would be just fine, although, you may want to take a look at your hand _Master_."

Shirou looked and saw something that wasn't there before.

Red marks that created a sword with four angelic wings pointing outward.

Command Seals, proof of one's identity as a Master for the Holy Grail War.

However, Shirou was not the only one with winged Command Seals.


	3. RealizationTwo

AN:Review! I don't mind criticism and reviews help inspire in their own way!

Funnily enough this was actually meant to be a normal MiyuShirou in a Fate/Zero, but I don't remember why, but suddenly I had the idea of adding features from Prototype. EMIYA was originally meant to be summoned as a Caster with a new wardrobe or as just EMIYA with no container, then the two emiyas would fight to cleanse the grail, but then I realized that they would also curb stomp the war since Gil is no problem for them and they can also just snipe all the servants(seriously EMIYA is weak but he's also strong, he won most of the Moon Cell War while half burnt and could possibly kill Heracles if the conditions are right) and while I'm fine with OP stories, I wanted to have some interesting fun rather than plain fun. Unfortunately that is now another story for another time, at this point things are going to be Veryyyyy different.

A lot of people mentioned the similarities to both Apocrypha and Prototype, well it's definitely similar to both but the only similarity with Apocrypha is the fact that there's more than seven servants. So really the story's become a mix of Prilya, Zero, and Prototype.

So a reviewer mentioned that King Hassan Azrael should have cleaved Caster and Ryunosuke, but the installs on servants only give partial abilities(so if an installed card uses a NP it always pales to the heroic spirit). This is why I mention that Shirou was being extra careful against caster still, because he knew that he was more or less outmatched still statwise. While the original Azrael could have killed caster the reduced install version couldn't.

Anyways as for the abruptness, ya it's kinda meant to be that way. Since it was 3rd person but in shirous point of view i decided against cutting away to the summoning circle since I also couldn't make it flow the way I wanted. And since archer showed up at the end and caster was not only injured but his master was knocked out he cut his losses and left. I actually planned on having the fight be longer but decided that since caster was still just summoned he wasn't prepared to fight without any sacrifices, and every time he was going to pull out something big that would have extended the fight Shirou/archer were able to put a stop to it since both knew that even if caster himself was outmatched by them a giant monster would still be bad and because both are too smart to let it happen.

As for archers appearance yes it was also abrupt but most summonings (ayaka/Hakuno/Shirou from SN) happen suddenly and this even more so because Shirou wasn't actually at the summoning circle.

Also one person mentioned the language thing, it's something that'll happen from time to time like the onii chan thing. I'll only write it in when it fits best to convey the right feelings. It'll also only be in the proper languages. For example I'm not gonna have isklander say "shimata" or whatever curse word in Japanese when he probably knows the equivalent to it in his home language. Yarex2 was the best way to convey the troublesome feelings archer had to the situation. (Plus they are speaking Japanese and when I imagine them talking their Japanese voices are way better)

I'll be the first to admit I might write a bit weird. I've never been good at subtle and usually I'll overexplain things due to my own compulsive nature, if it's about being subtle it'll usually be Nicholas flamel being mentioned in the beginning of Harry potter and coming up later or Naruto not so surprisingly be the son of the fourth hokage, but either way they're things that when you go back and read you might think "oh this line was a super tiny hint to that" but if not then it's still fine as it is.

Slight spoiler for the chapter, but wow it is hard to write battles between servants who have very select abilities, at least with the emiya's I can play around with how they fight but this is something else.

Realization/2

A counter guardian fated to betray himself and the ideals he holds dearest to him.

A third rate magus that completely honed his skill for years.

That's who he was.

He was also someone who tended to get in a LOT of trouble. Not only did he usually end up in uphill battles, his luck placed in him situations extremely inconvenient and burdening to him. Like being attacked by a bunch of amazons.

Of course that luck was the same for him no matter what. His younger self, his self in other worlds. It was just terrible.

Because of all the trouble he's experienced, he naturally learned from them, while the past wasn't exactly something to ignore, it was something he was almost disgusted with. If he could choose to be anywhere else or do anything different, he would.

That opinion leads to one of the most absurd situations anyone could think of.

He was a counter guardian, of course, this means he could be summoned by Alaya. And since he was held somewhat close to the Throne of Heroes he was also able to be summoned by a magus. It was WHEN he gets summoned that he begins to pull off more of his absurd ideas-that is to say, kill himself, his younger self of course.

Sometimes he succeeds, other times he's fails and instead a younger him would choose a better, smarter path. But that was just fine with him. Sure, he'd like to somehow kill his true young self and fuck up time, but he was just as content killing off stupid versions of himself or seeing himself live a life he could have had.

Which leads to his current situation.

In all his times being summoned, he certainly never remembered something like this.

It was indeed strange, the moment the grail implanted information in him he realized something was off, solely due to what information was given.

Well, that and the fact that when he fully appeared he was in a room with tied up people who were bleeding profusely. Seeing as nobody was around, he went ahead and bandaged them up while hypnotizing them just in case. Then he cleaned up the room, luckily all those times being summoned by a certain love interest of the past helped him be quick about it.

One might say he was being too nice about this, well, he couldn't deny that. Old habits die hard after all.

While ignoring the itchy feeling on his back, he went to sought out the one who summoned him. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he certainly didn't expect to see a familiar youth trying to fight against another familiar Caster.

He didn't even need to think much on why the youth was so familiar. He was one of the younger versions of him that couldn't possibly be confused with his true younger self. A version raised to inherit the ideal of being a Seigi no Mikata.

Noting the discoloring on both skin and hair, he came to the conclusion that this one, after coming into contact with his own reality marble, began to suffer even worse side effects than simply using Tracing for the first time. Still, both had accepted such a consequence. For one, it was his only option to fight, for another, it was a way to help a version of him that he approved of.

Granted, this version of him inadvertently damned a whole world, but the world was already going that way. All that mattered was that he had truly cared for someone and wasn't chained down by a terrible ideal. He was also rather sympathetic to the fact that the kid saw someone dear to him die for him.

He was mostly content to see the younger man pushing back the servant until he made a mistake. When Caster was planning on pulling out his bigger abominations in anger, he figured it was about time to step in.

It was unfortunate he couldn't kill Caster already, but he thought against pulling out the big guns and risk getting caught.

"With the proof of those command seals and your conviction, it's clear you're my master. Servant Archer at your service." He gave a small bow just for show.

The young man still scowled but the expression changed with his next words. "Or at least, that's what I usually say, as I thought, this is indeed quite the situation. And so I arrive, Servant Ruler, let's see if we get along Master."

"Ruler? What kind of class is that?"

Out came an automatic answer. "Normally Rulers are summoned to regulate the Holy Grail War, make sure nobody exposes magecraft and the like, in general it's a Ruler's duty to act in the name of the Grail and not complain about it. As you know, I'm somewhat an expert in fulfilling my duty regardless of what I want." He then pulled out something he picked up from the messy room. "Since this traced weapon fell into the summoning circle, it became me who was summoned as Ruler rather than say, Jeanne D'Arc or Sherlock Holmes."

The dagger disappeared while the scarred man frowned. "But how did I summon you? I didn't chant anything. Plus why were you summoned as Ruler?"

An amused sigh was heard. "Well, this was actually quite the interesting situation. When I was being summoned, I was summoned without a class, as if Alaya was sending me out, but then the Grail decided to push the class of Ruler into my hands. Since my mission is to act in the Grail's best interests, that also mean protecting it, and since you are who you are, I was summoned to you. The Holy Grail is in your sister after all."

"Tch. I forgot that Julian used Miyu as a catalyst for the war. Should've realized it might've followed."

"Well, the Grail within Miyu was placed by her mother, which went mostly inactive until the Ainsworths' got their hands on her, then when you won it went inactive again until the Grail 'noticed' that this worlds grail was corrupted. In order to summon a servant to clean the other grail and protect Miyu and what's inside her, another war ended up starting inadvertently." Ruler said without a care.

Waving his hands around, the young man spoke quickly. "Wait wait, what did you say about corrupted?"

"Long story. I'll explain later. By the way, you're welcome for cleaning up both of your messes. You were sloppy using that assassin's noble phantasm. That Heroic Spirit has a strong ego. If you hadn't noticed, it was influencing you. Messing up by not killing either Caster or his master with his noble phantasm gave him enough reason to eject you. Next time succeed if you don't want a surprise."

"I'll have you know if it wasn't for summoning you I would have gotten them both."

Unsurprised from the snark he responded back. "Really? Who was the one who said he didn't know how he summoned me?"

"Just because I didn't know how doesn't mean I wasn't aware. The seals were irritating me and summoning you drained my prana."

"Funny, the seals on my back didn't stop me from nearly killing Caster and his master for you."

"Tch." It was clear who won this match.

"You did good for what it's worth." Patting the shorter one's head(said shorter one was extremely caught off guard by the action). "Now come on, let's get to your little sister."

Picking the kid up bridal style just to hurt his pride, he jumped away to where he sensed the Grail.

Landing, he saw that they lived in some sort of Restaurant/Hole combo. "Not bad. Hope you don't mind if I take over as cook."

"We'd still have to explain you to my sister."

As if on cue from the moment they walked inside a voice chimed in, "Onii-chan? Who'd you bring with you?"

"I'm a friend of your father and brother." This made Miyu look confused as she didn't know how Kiritsugu could have a friend here. "Let me put it this way, since the Holy Grail inside you gives you unlimited prana which you send to your brother it allowed him to summon a heroic spirit who just so happened to know your father and brother in life."

Miyu was a smart girl, she knew that a heroic spirit would never have come to her brother unless something forced him to. "Onii-chan, be careful..." She trusted in her brother to stay alive, he was the strongest person she knew after all.

Shirou embraced Miyu. "Don't worry Miyu. I'll always be there for you." Ruler noticed the two were glowing a bit but in there tearful embrace they didn't seem to notice. He knew that generally the grail that he generally fought for in Fuyuki only granted one wish, but that was due to the system placed on it and how it was made by man. The Holy Grails that he had come into contact with on his other adventures usually granted anything as long as someone kept it with them. He figured Miyu's bloodline plus the Holy Grail was going to be a incredible help...but it never hurt to make sure.

"Terribly sorry to interrupt at a time like this, but we have one more thing to do before the night ends."

Shirou looked back at himself. "Such as."

"I am, admittedly an okay servant, but with the unlimited prana from the grail I am perhaps, at the strongest I've ever been. But that doesn't mean I can simply match up with heroic spirits in a fight. If we want to get through this safely, we should summon another servant to help me out."

Shirou raised his eyebrow. "Isn't that against the rules or something?"

Ruler shrugged in response. "Well, my job is to protect the grail in your sister. The fact that two separate Grail Wars are going on is odd anyways but I won't bother you with those details. Luckily those cards of yours are going to be just the catalyst we need. Speaking from experience, the heroic spirits of those cards are a handful."

Shirou looked at Miyu and knew that she wasn't going to sleep until he did. He sighed, "Alright, give me a few minutes."

Ruler watched on as Shirou methodically drew out a summoning circle with archers instructions. When they were finally satisfied with the work Shirou pulled out the class cards.

"So, you're the experienced one here, what servant should we aim for. Since the servants are already given a class due to the cards we at least know who we're aiming for."

Ruler rubbed his chin. "Hm. Lancer and I would fight too much to be able to work together. It might be redundant to try and summon Archer since two of me aren't going to be much of a difference. Saber's already been summoned in the original war and either won't be summoned or will be summoned with an abnormality. I function just as well as an assassin and unless it's necessary I doubt you want to kill the other masters anyways. I suppose Caster, Berserker, and Rider are the only options, but Heracles's power would certainly be a boon."

Shirou wouldn't know anything about that since as an install, Heracles's power was great yet nothing to really worry about, but he did know that an enemy that wouldn't die when killed would not be someone that most could handle. It's not as if they needed to worry about prana drain anyways.

"Good thing I decided to get a spacious home." Shirou said to himself.

Ruler was fairly certain summoning Heracles was going to destroy the ceiling still but decided not to say anything.

And so Shirou chanted, the darkness of the room brightening up as the summoning circle glowed.

And then stopped as no servant was summoned. The two male Emiyas furrowed their brows and narrowed their eyes.

"Oi. You sure you did it right?"

"Shut it. You were right there next to me while I made the circle and chanted. Something must be wrong but it isn't with me."

"Try the other cards then."

And so Shirou tried again using the Rider, Lancer, and Assassin cards.

"Tch." Ruler scowled. While not summoning another servant wouldn't be too problematic he hated when his plans go sideways.

Once more it failed, this time with the Saber card.

For the last time, Shirou placed the Caster card in the middle of the circle. He'd rather make sure that they wouldn't be able to summon any more servants rather than just give up when it could have worked.

Ruler had grabbed the cleaning supplies, mostly certain it was going to fail once again.

Only to be proven wrong.

Ruler felt more and more prana from Shirou being spent, even the grail within Miyu fluctuated.

Ruler may have originally hoped for Heracles, after all the big man was a great ally and had a soft spot for kids, but Medea was at least easier to get along with then the blue lancer. Her wish ensured she would have no problem working together with them.

A woman in bluish purple robes with a hood that covered her hair appeared within the circle. Within her hands was a staff about as long as her height.

"Servant Caster, how strange, for me to be summoned by a Master who already has another servant."

Ruler didn't bother wasting time. "You have no reason to fear Medea of Colchis. Your summoning was simply to help me keep these two safe, as you should have been told, the grail within the child must be protected. So long as you fulfill your servant duties you will be free to live this second life however you choose."

"Ara, and who are you to be giving me these directions?"

"Servant Ruler. So long as you don't do anything rather villainous we'll be fighting on the same side. Luckily for you, you were summoned by a kind master who cares for his sister."

"Ah, so you're Ruler? If we'll be together, won't you tell me your name, or should I simply call you butler?" She pointed out the objects in his hands with amusement.

"Funny. I cast away my name a long time ago, but it's for the best if you simply call me Tomoe."

Shirou raised an eyebrow to the name, but let it go for now.

He was too tired to let the night go any further, especially with Miyu awake.

"Alright then, for now I suppose we'll talk about the war tomorrow, Medea, you can sleep in Miyu's room for now while she'll sleep in mine, Tomoe, you can take the couch."

"What a terrible master to send me to such a bed." Ruler said in good nature.

Still, he allowed Shirou and his sister to rest, Ruler didn't need sleep, and he intended on having a deep talk with her to ensure she could trust them.

Plus, he had a job to do.

 _Two females stood against each other._

 _The love one felt pushed her to do what she must. The other simply had no intentions on dying._

 _There was no talking, not when their interests clashed._

 _And thus two beings materialize._

 _A knight in armor stood poised to attack with a sword._

 _And a woman in blue armor wielding a spear prepared for battle._

 _"Prepare yourself. It's nothing personal but you stand in the way of my Master."_

 _"I will obey my master to make up for my sins."_

 _Saber rushed at Lancer and crushed the ground, surprising Lancer. Lancer fell to the floor below and was slammed by the knights armor._

 _The two vanished below and the building rumbled as they clashed with all their might._

 _Meanwhile the two females stood facing each other. One was tense, ready to act, the other smiling with confidence._

 _One casually charged her circuits and sent a blaze of fire, forcing the latter to run to the right while sending a wave of ravens._

 _The Masters began their own battle while Saber growled as the master was now in needless danger._

 _Saber rushed at Lancer, batting away each swing and stab. However Saber never got close enough to attack Lancer's body._

 _Lancer jumped and lunged at Sabers head only to miss. "Don't think you can injure me so easily even in this darkness!"_

 _The woman used her agility to skirt around the knight, slightly scratching the knights armor._

 _"Not so fast!" Saber spun and slashed down to push the spear to the ground._

 _The ground became set aflame and the two servants stared each other down as the fire spread. Then suddenly two rushed at the other, intent on winning. Both used the flames to their advantage as their burning weapons clashed and created more fire._

 _The battles of the night were all observed by steel eyes that showed recognition and annoyance at what would come in the future._

"Shirou-kun! The next batch is ready!" Medea said from the kitchen next to Ruler. The two were designated cooks for the restaurant since the former decided to learn from the latter. Medea was currently going off the name "Ryougi", Shirou wondered if the names he was using were people he met in life or as a servant.

The two servants were posing as a distant relative and his fiancé. Of course Medea always had somewhat of a sour look at pretending to be Ruler's fiancé but nobody seemed to notice since Ruler also constantly teased her.

Shirou gave it two weeks tops until she falls in love with him.

"Here's your ramen sir!" Shirou said with a smile. Handing it off to a rather large bodied man, he walked to the counter as no one needed any service.

Shirou took another look at the TV attached to the ceiling corner. Another story on the mysterious collapse of a parking building as well as the fainting's of criminals in prison. Given the randomness of it all, he assumed that it was because of the servants summoned.

He couldn't even tell how many servants could already be out there, and was happy that at least they were civil enough not to destroy too much property.

"You shouldn't have such a sorry looking face boyo." Medea's spoke out softly. She came out, I suppose there's no more cooking to be held at the moment. "So many girls come in to see you smile at them, not frown."

Scratching his head he laughed. "It just came out. Also what would you know about why girls come in when you're in the kitchen practicing your inferior cooking skills."

A tic mark appeared on her forehead and Shirou resisted the urge to smirk. She was far too easy to rile up. "You know if you spent as much time cooking as you did playing with dolls maybe you'd have a quarter of our cooking skills."

A comrade of the first mark appeared. Medea, for someone supposed to be a witch, was incredibly sensitive, but perhaps it's that sensitivity that allow the two to act so light heartedly around her. While she does get pissed at their constant bullying, it was also clear to her that the lack of mention to her past and more to her….current hobbies, was enough to tell her that they would trust her.

Of course, it probably helped that Miyu, the young and adorable girl that she is, got along rather well with the servant. Even Medea wouldn't willingly hurt a little girl.

"My my Emiya-kun, rather low blow don't you think? She isn't wrong that we ladies prefer to see you smiling." A coy voice walked up to us.

A girl with black hair in pigtails handed off some money to him. "Keep the change. I'd like to keep you in business after all. You have to spoil that little sister of yours even if she hates me." Her smug smirk didn't change as her rolled his eyes.

"Well next time you show up don't come in pigtails, they don't suit you very well." Shirou bantered with the regular.

"And here I thought I'd give you a rare sight."

"Shoo." A voice said quietly. Shirou didn't bother to hide his amusement while the girl looked off put.

Miyu stood clutching the tray to her work apron. She waved her hand to emphasize her words.

"Fine fine, I guess I'll go…..but before that….." Smiling at Shirou mischievously, she leaned in to give him a quick peck on the cheek.

Shirou's eye twitched at the suddenness of it all. Usually she wasn't that bold, but he figured that maybe she was hit with good news, evident by the hair style change and the peck.

She walked out with the usual sway she always did.

Shirou, who waved her goodbye, turned around to see an amused Ruler and Caster, and a very pouty narrow eyed Miyu. "Don't you all have cooking to do?" He then looked around to the customers. "And don't you have eating to do?" They all returned to their food.

Ruler and Caster walked back to the kitchen. Miyu kept pouting.

"Y'know Miyu, you can't always be rude to every girl that talks to me. Your big brother is a guy after all." It was certainly hypocrisy at its finest. If any guy came talking to Miyu he was going to be more than rude.

"The one with glasses isn't as bad as all the others." She muttered.

"And I'm sure she'll be happy you approve." She really would.

They both turn to the entrance as they heard a ding. "Welcome!"

Shirou's smile became a bit more genuine as he saw a blonde girl wearing a blue dress. "Hello Shirou-sama! I'm just here to talk today."

She leans over the counter and places her head on her delicate hands.

"Well until anyone needs service, I suppose I'm yours."

Her smile only grew at his choice of words.


	4. Realization3- What do I need to realize

Realization/3

Review, seriously. I'm not as hung up on reviews but I do enjoy seeing them.

The chapter would have been out sooner, but I got caught in reading a bunch of manga and light novels and watching anime. plus I finally got my first part time job plus the two FGO servers(single ticket drake spook instead of tamamo plus Marie spook instead of Hikki-hime)...so let's just say writing hasn't been my priority. Then when it was my priority some assholes fucked up my internet and the back of my car which kept me even more busy. Now if I knew how to type words with my mind I'd have more chapters out faster and longer.

I even planned to have a Shirou and 'ruler' spar since it's been a long time and I wanted to give something special, but I realized it would be useless since there was no reason to make it a big deal when 'ruler' approves of him and even with the class cards it was impossible for Shirou to win.

Also Damn auto correct on phone and my mind automatically fixing mistakes.

Btw If you look closely and analyze Manaka and Shirou's interactions, you'll see what I have planned for both of them. Same goes for everything else in the story, something you thought was just me filling up space with an interaction could have been a foreshadowing.

Realization/3

"How has business been, Shirou-sama, Miyu-chan?" Manaka asked with a kind smile. Her blue dress was slightly frilly, it was what she usually wore.

Shirou responded with a shrug. "Better than usual. With more workers besides me things go a lot smoother and faster."

"Ah! That's good. With more workers, then you'll also have more time off to spend with me." She said delightfully.

Shirou just chuckled, a sight Manaka watched with a pink heart pupil in her light blue colored eyes.

As for Shirou himself, he had no hard feelings to Manaka himself. He was somewhat embarrassed by her obvious attention to him, but he enjoyed her presence.

"You know Manaka, you don't have to spend every day with me. You should spend time with your other friends." Shirou said smiling lightly.

Manaka shook her head. "I'm just fine doing this Shirou-sama. All those other people are dreadfully boring. Besides, isn't it fine to spend my life with the man who stole my heart?"

Miyu, who had to get refreshments for the customers, had a blank look on her face.

"We're not married Manaka." He said chuckling.

The blonde girl sighed morosely. "You've rejected all one hundred and ninety six of my proposals to you."

"One for each day we've known each other."

"Fu. Just wait. Soon enough it'll be me counting each and every time we confess our love to each other."

Miyu, who still looked blank, twitched. If not for the customers deciding they had to ignore Shirou whenever Manaka came by due to the latter's scary smile, she would have been free to push the needy girl away.

"Speaking of confessing, where's Ayaka? It's rare for her to be behind you."

"Oh don't worry about her Shirou-sama, she's just spending time with a new friend of hers."

"Ah, that's good. She's so shy that it worries me. It's nice that she can have more friends."

"To see you so worried about my sister, it makes me so jealous, yet so happy!" She said closing her eyes.

Shirou, more than used to her oddities, ignored the harsh blush and the fact that she was biting her lower lip.

"It's not like she's the only one I'm worried about. I care about you too Manaka." He said ignoring the silent pout of Miyu.

The younger girl seemed to emit happiness at his words. Shirou was always amused at how she tried to steer conversations in a way that would get him to compliment her in some way.

Of course he was more than happy to oblige. He enjoyed seeing happy and blushing faces. The way people were flushed when he teased them was entertaining.

He already knew Manaka always enjoyed bragging at whatever he said to her sister, and he could already picture the younger sister's face turning red when Manaka poutingly reveals that he said he cared for her.

"Shirou-sama, after hearing those words, I can't hold back anymore. Won't you come to the back with me? You shouldn't force a maiden to confess in front of a crowd." Manaka's blush calmed down, but it was still there.

Shirou rolled his eyes behind her back. Depending on her fancy, she would confess in the restaurant, the streets, or anywhere they would happen to be. Shirou himself had stopped counting how many times she would confess, realizing she really would never stop.

He never understood why she liked him, though both her and Ayaka had dropped some hints, and the realization he came to made him decide that there was no harm in letting her fawn over him.

Since business was currently at its average, and the fact that there were two more helpers, he decided there was no harm in following her. After all, he knew how this was going to end, so where was the harm in going?

Meanwhile Ruler, who was watching from the kitchen, could only shake his head.

Just his luck, or should he say his luck, that a psychotic young girl would be enamored with him.

He knew of Manaka, having been summoned to her worlds every now and again. A world where King Arthur is simply King Arthur. Although he only began being summoned there after meeting the blonde king on a mission to save humanity.

The young girl was dangerous, and also obsessed. Knowing of her past, the present, and her possible futures, he was reluctant to let Shirou follow her. But he decided to give her a chance. After all it was a world where she and her sister were the same age and in Fuyuki rather than Tokyo. She could have been born different similar to how Shirou and Miyu were different from Ruler's world.

Still, He's had enough relations with women to know how this was going to end.

But he knew his younger self could take care of himself.

 _"Why exactly are we doing this again?"_

 _Shirou and Ruler were at a local temple in Fuyuki. With Medea working her magic they didn't have to worry about stragglers or notifying others of their presence._

 _"I have to see how skilled you are somehow. Besides, this will have the added benefit of allowing you to absorb some of my experience without your soul collapsing on itself."_

 _"Wait that's a thing?"_

 _"A magic that allows one to acquire skill by possessing oneself with a previous self...of course, having connected on such a deep level with the class card, I'm certain you absorbed more than if we had simply fought. However by sparring, you'll be able to take in my experiences and this will also allow you to trace the weapons you weren't able to connect to before. This is simply insurance that you, in some way, get on my level."_

 _"Ehhhh." Shirou was dry. "Your level huh. Well, I won't deny that. While I try to plan out my enemy's moves at least ten steps, you could definitely do better than that. Given that I was in the middle of battle after battle I had to make due with my level of tracing as well. It could only increase so much."_

 _"I'll tone down my strength as much as possible, can one of those class cards raise your Strength and keep your tracing?"_

 _Shirou thought for a second. "Well Caster could work, but it only really enhances my magecraft since the strength enhancement isn't really worth noting. It might work with Berserker since it doesn't drive me insane."_

 _"Then we'll go with that. Even a watered down portion of Heracles's strength is a boon for a human."_

 _Shirou installed, being dressed in a brown skirt armor. As he composed himself, Ruler spoke._

 _"Then let's start. Follow my lead."_

 _""Trace, on.""_

 _Kanshou and Bakuya. The favored swords of Ruler._

 _The two threw both their swords at the other, tracing another weapon to fight with. The Married Swords bounced away from the others._

 _For Shirou, the swords' magnetism only hampered him, evident by how they both threw the swords despite it being the first thing they traced before battle._

 _And so he chose Crocea Mors, the Yellow Death._

 _Not even half a second after Ruler traced the same thing._

 _They clashed equally, or about as equally as they could as they didn't intend on hurting each other._

 _"Tell me, how have you been sleeping lately." Ruler asked while changing weapons to Durandal, the Peerless sword. Shirou traced the same thing._

 _"?! Urgh. What's with the random question." He gritted out. He switched to Gram, Sword of the Sun, and Ruler followed._

 _"It's only as random as you believe it is." This time, Ruler chose Merodach, the Original Sin. They clashed with the same, but unequal Swords._

 _"Just fine." He murmured annoyed. He switched to Arondight, the Unfading Light of the Lake._

 _"That's good." Balmung, slayer of dragons._

 _They traded blows and swords more and more._

 _Sword of Unpromised Victory._

 _Blessed Sword by which Force is Slain._

 _Hound of the Red Plains._

 _"We never spoke on how we knew each other did we." Harpe, the Immortal Slaying Scythe._

 _"Why the hell does it matter! We're the same person!" Dainseif, sword of Destruction._

 _"Well I'm sure you're a little curious. It just so happens that when you linked yourself to the card, it happened to catch my notice. Unlike the other cards, there was never an ego to remove, so I chose to help you out since you were so desperate." Naegling, the Iron Sword Hammer._

 _"Then thanks." Durindana, Ultimate Unbroken Hallow._

 _"You know. I would've never done so if the link didn't go both ways. While your soul was gaining too much information from immune, I gained some of yours. I'm sorry you weren't able to protect your Sakura." Brionac, the Five Roaring Stars._

 _"...!" Caladbolg, the Rainbow Sword._

 _"There plenty of things I was never able to protect myself, however you already knew that. And even as your actions went against Kiritsigu's ideal, I still lent you my power, do you know why." Clarent, the Radiant and Brilliant Royal Sword._

 _"...no..." Usumidori, the Tailed Sword._

 _"It's because you made a decision I wish I would have made. I never had the guts to be selfish. I remained fake, chasing after an impossible sight." A katana Sword one with Zen._

 _"So what, you think I shouldn't have done anything differently!"_

 _"Do you think you should have!"_

 _Shirou's eyes showed his answer, and he traced a large stone sword and clashed with Ruler's._

 _They glared at each other and chose Mystletainn, the Piercing Sword._

 _"Do you believe yourself a greater villain than those like Mephistopheles or Jack the Ripper?" Monohoshi-Zao, sword of a Nameless Farmer._

 _"!" Shirou roared and rushed with Caliburn, Sword of the Victorious._

 _No more words were spoken until finally the Sword of St. Catherine ended the spar._

 _Shirou ejected the Berserker Card, he was losing himself in madness. His body was caked in sweat as he frowned at his lost._

 _Each and every one of his weapons broke first. And yet they were as perfect as they could be._

 _"Let me tell you what you need to know. Our battles are not just with the world, but with ourselves. If Emiya Shirou cannot do something, he must first change himself."_

 _"And how do I start to do that."_

 _"It'll come to you. Just know this."_

 _"What you did was evil, but it was certainly not wrong."_

A feminine yelp took his attention from the matter. It seemed his fellow servant was beginning to burn the food. Amateur. Guess it was time to be a Hero of Justice again.

* * *

Kirei Kotomine was a stoic faced man with short hair and a strong build hidden under a priests clothing. Later, there would be a time where he would laugh at such irony, but as he was now, he simply had no feelings toward it.

He was the master of Assassin, or should he say Assassins, as his servant had the ability to split into different bodies, each for a different personality of the original.

He had no wish, no desire of his own. And thus his plentiful of assassins were at the disposal of his father and his master.

Currently he was hiding at his father's church, and he hadn't seen his master since long before they sacrificed one of the assassin's bodies. The archer under Tokiomi Tohsaka, his master, seemed to have a grudge for the two masters in cohorts, though neither seemed to understand why there was so much hostility.

While they were certain of their victory, holding the strongest servant and the sneakiest servant, Kirei held his doubts due to Kiritsugu Emiya, a man that held his interest.

At the moment however, he was putting aside his thoughts of Emiya and found himself curious at the unexplained events that could only be caused by a magus and their servant.

One of these events were of Fuyuki's prisons, the prisoners inside were found unconscious and lethargic when awake. He could only assume that there was an inadequate master who did not want to prey on the average civilian, or much more likely was that there was a master who wanted to cause suffering to sinners and get a bonus from it. This is what he assumed as the previous serial kidnappings and murders had also now continued after a brief pause.

The second event was of the collapse of a parking building. Given how the building was originally fine and showed no sign of falling apart, the now ruins of the structure had to have been caused by a servant as well. However this was not the first occurrence of ruined buildings.

While he was pondering upon which master could have caused these events one of the assassins flickered in. It was a female with blue hair wearing the same cloak and mask that all Old Men of the Mountain have.

"Master, I'm here to report the findings of what I've asked."

He motioned for her to continue.

"We've concluded that Kiritsugu Emiya has no chance of being related to any of the events. However, we do have something strange to report."

This actually made the fake priest raise an eyebrow.

"As you know, there's been strange energy fluctuations throughout the city, while we can't be certain, those fluctuations are likely from Caster, and there is a chance that another servant may be like us as we've felt the presence of many servants all over the city at the same time. As the number does not match up to the five enemy servants, the Noble Phantasm of a servant has led to it splitting at least seven times."

"My, that is troubling, yet I see no reason to care for it."

Assassin would have frowned if possible.

"In any case Assassin, keep an eye out for Emiya."

"...yes master."

* * *

"Tch. How boring. To think I would be summoned by this one again. Those two mongrels should be grateful I haven't punished them for their grievances already."

A blonde haired man in black clothes said. He shook his bangs and closed his eyes in disappointment and anger.

"But I must say...that one at least holds merit even if the latter is worth nothing." He reasoned with themself.

"Indeed...ha...hahaha...Hahahaha-KYAHAHAHAHA!"

He swung his head back in hysterics. "Indeed, the entertainment value is still nothing in comparison to the only one worthy of being called my master, yet it's entertaining nonetheless."

Had he not been in his room with technology ten years too early, he would have gazed out the window.

Instead he settled for showing why he was the King of Heroes by completing one of humans greatest challenges by ensuring he wouldn't die, to think it was hard for most modern humans to dodge roll at the right time made him laugh and weep. But perhaps he wasn't giving the challenge enough credit, after all he was the Hero among Heroes.

"Show me a good show Faker, or perhaps I should come up with a new title for you?"

* * *

"Why did you bring us over here?"

The big brother and big sister had walked over to an alley near the restaurant.

"Shirou-sama, did I ever tell you why I love you so much?" Manaka ignored the question.

"No, but I've had my guesses."

She had placed her hand in his to lead him deeper into the alley. Her hands were warm, different from the cold hands that he reached out to.

"Shirou-sama, you have no idea how happy it is that you've never denied my love, even if you never accepted it."

That would certainly be the normal response if a pretty girl out of nowhere confesses to you.

Then again some guys who have just accepted it.

Those guys never lost someone they could have loved.

"I've lived a colorless life. I was the very definition of Apathy. There was nothing in this world that I could care about."

He's spoken to Ayaka a lot about the two sisters, and she was always hesitant to speak of her sister's past, but she always spoke, believing Shirou needed to know.

"Has that changed?" He asked her seriously as they stopped.

"Hm. Perhaps it has. Or maybe I simply decided to pretend." She said facing away from him.

"And why would that happen?"

"Fu. It's because I've fallen in love with you silly Shirou-sama. For you we're the one thing I could not understand."

Shirou never thought himself hard to understand, so he wondered what made her so confused.

"You needn't hide from me Shirou-sama. I know. That you and your sister are from another world." His eyes could only widen before she continued. "You may forever confide in me. Despite the weight behind your decisions, you chose one being over the world. Shirou-sama, of everything in this world that I could understand and predict, you were the one thing I could not see."

Shirou tensed, but his blood did not chill like he thought it would.

"Despite how you believe yourself a villain, I see only a righteous hero wronged by the world. Once, I idealed a meeting with a heroic king, but upon seeing you I realized that a perfect Knight is not what I need. What I need is you, and I will forever dedicate myself to what you need."

Shirou could not think. Unlike her previous confessions Manaka was really going all in. Yet he could barely understand why she was able to say such things.

"H-hold on Manaka. You're saying a bit too much at the moment. Let me think."

She placed her arms on the wall he was leaning against, trapping him in. This was the reddest and most embarrassed face of the normally composed Shirou. And she was purely mesmerized by it. And unconsciously she leaned in.

"You never once accepted my love, not wishing to hurt my sister, and not being ready yourself. Nor have you denied my love, perhaps because you understood it in ways I haven't."

"The selfless Shirou-sama I know would push me away...but don't you know Shirou-sama? It's okay to be selfish, not even the world should convince you otherwise..." she leaned upwards to the taller male on the very tips of her feet, wrapping her arms around his neck.

In a way, he could understand the surface of what she was saying.

How could he, who lived where others could not, enjoy himself luxuriously.

How could he, who could not succeed where his father wished him to forever abandon such a beautiful ideal.

How could he, who damned a world from its salvation, keep it to his chest.

"What you did was evil, but it was certainly not wrong."

Manaka placed a chaste kiss upon his lips. Feeling a warmth spread throughout her body, she kept her position despite it being so uncomfortable.

He did not put her away. He merely closed his eyes, as something pooled in his chest.

She leaned back down, moving her hands to his cheeks.

"Shirou-sama, I know that deep down, you're still hurt by your past, tormented greatly, but despite that you wish to live to reclaim that which you've been abandoned by. You are too kind to willingly hurt another...so I will happily do so in your place to keep you from hurting any more."

She slowly caressed his still cheeks, gaining a look of sadness and resolution at what she saw.

He was surprised at something.

Because she moved back, he realized that in the time she was turned away from him she unbuttoned the upper part of her dress.

Normally that would have made it more difficult for him to move around and embarrass him, but his attention wasn't on her chest.

But what was on her chest.

A Sword with Seven Red Wings surrounding it.


	5. Realizationfour- A mystery

Realization/4: A mystery to Realize.

SORRY. I'm really sorry this is late. But I had work and then Christmas and then New Years, I just didn't have the time to write until now. I literally wrote this is one day, since even if I waited to write it longer, I would likely begin to lose the urge to write, which is what happened until now, where I could only bring myself to write snippets. But while I couldn't bring myself to write, I could bring myself to help further detail my ending for Realization. I know the characters and their destinations, and all I have to do is work on filling in the details of the journey.

So I'm glad that everyone's liking Manaka so far. It was a little hard to do, since the original material she's in doesn't translate well in English.

I usually don't like to call out reviewers in such a way, but one of them has a REALLY HIGH opinion of Shirou/EMIYA to the point where it's disturbing. Especially since it's not all that correct. Like at all.

Other than that I'm a little sad chapter 4 didn't get many reviews, but I guess it can't be helped. But I was hoping people would comment on how the Ruler and Shirou fight alongside the Manaka scene showcased just how broken Shirou feels from his decisions.

Oh well. It at least keeps the authors notes short.

Also, small spoiler(not for the chapter) but some scenes can't be written in so easily so at the end of the chapters I'll be having little interludes or omakes that are canon to the story but couldn't find a spot to find them. The Ruler vs Shirou fight was one of them, but I found a way to make it fit since I made it less of an actual fight and more of a lesson like UBW Archer vs Shirou. Hope you guys like it, it was hard to write since even I've never felt so existential.

Also just want to note, just in case you don't read FCAS, but the reason I use one word[term] then use brackets just like that is because Japanese has a cool thing where you can read things differently, and it actually adds layers into sentences that if written in English would be more plain. And also that for the prototype chracters, visualize them as if Nakahara, who did Prototype Fragments official Art.

Chapter start.

* * *

Shirou stood frozen looking at Manaka.

"..." Sounds of unsureness slipped past his calm facade.

 _"That's unfortunate, I thought you'd be more flustered."_

"Ah, so that's what that face looks like...I suppose it's the same as that time isn't it..." Manaka said quietly, and knowingly.

"..."

"Aren't you going to say anything? A girl is exposing herself to you. No words to make me cover up, no words to make me concede to your desires?" She said in a princess tone.

"Just tell me straight...what do you intend on doing..."

Manaka ignored his question. She grabbed his hand and led it to her chest. She traced the command seals with his fingers, as if trying to prove to him that it was indeed real.

Seven angel wings. Two pointing up, two pointing down, two to the side, and one pointing downward. The sword surrounded by the wings was pointing up, pointing to the middle of her chest.

Shirou felt a thumping, and he wasn't sure if it was the blood in his arm, or Manaka's heart.

Eventually she finished tracing it, and simply left his palm in-between her breasts. He looked to her and saw she closed her eyes, her white cheeks flushed red.

He's never seen her this demure. She looked so...

Girly. Beautiful. In love.

And Vulnerable.

Her eyes closed, hands together on his own, ready to accept whatever judgement he had, even if it was to strike her down.

Because he abandoned the world, he could also abandon her. They knew that.

But because he abandoned the world, he didn't want to abandon anything else. They both knew this.

 _"A loss...so that's how you see this..."_

Could he accept her?

He would fight anyone if he needed to. Even Manaka.

But he felt tired.

He didn't question what he could do, he questioned what he wanted to do.

He didn't know how she knew his past, and he couldn't bring himself to question that fact for the moment.

But was it smart, no, was it okay to trust her?

Julian ultimately betrayed him for his own goals, and they had known each other for years.

He knew the answer, he didn't know if he should follow it.

 _'The orphan is alone, striking diamond dust on a hill of swords.'_

A chant said by no one resonated with him.

He thought of Kiritsugu, who was always alone, always focused on a single goal.

And then of his older self, who was surrounded by others, and was still never with them.

He... didn't want to be like them.

'But this life is not yet over.'

He knew what his only option was. He wouldn't let his resolve falter.

"Open your eyes Manaka."

She did so and found him buttoning up her frilly light blue dress.

"We still have a lot to talk about...but at the very least, I want you to know that you are my friend."

"Just a friend still is it." She said wistfully.

"No, even for me this confession isn't something that can just be put on hold, but just be a little patient with me."

Manaka wrapped her hands around his neck and nudged him with her head. "It's rude to not respond now...but I won't ask you for the impossible."

Shirou patted her before the two of them felt and overwhelming presence.

Manaka shoved herself off Shirou to look down at the alley.

Shirou didn't fight the shiver that passed through his body, but he still brought out a class card and installed it.

A giant monster, for it looked like no man, clad in red and black chains rather than clothes, Red veins bulging from the skin unnaturally. In its hand a golden metal tomahawk with a burning stone edge. It's sharp mouth was shut, yet a deep rumbling could be felt.

It barely fit in the alley, yet that just made things worse for them.

Nowhere to run, and no danger of civilians when they could not fight back.

Manaka knew what she needed to do to give them a chance.

But she wasn't surprised that before she could make a move a figure in blue shot forward with a red spear.

" **[Gáe Bolg: Barbed Spear that Pierces with Death][Spear of Impaling Barbed Death]** "

Shirou saw exactly what he feared.

The spear bounced off of the monster's skin, as if a pebble to metal.

It was the worst situation for Shirou, fighting meant involving civilians, yet not fighting meant dying.

And Dying was unforgivable.

What he wasn't expecting, was for a hole to open up beneath the monster. A hole in space eerily similar to what he once faced against.

The monster reaches to grab the edge, only for the hole to open up further to keep such a thing from happening.

"Lancer!" A beautiful woman with long white hair had a spear with a valentine heart tip.

Shirou expected this, after all, those command seals meant she had a servant. He wasn't surprised that said servant was beautiful, or even that her spear was misleadingly dangerous.

What he was- surprised about however, was that she was blindfolded and had some sort of gag in her mouth.

It froze him in his tracks even as the woman passed by him into the hole that lead to a rocky surface to attack the monster.

He couldn't resist the urge to check his blue clad body to see if he had reacted to such a sight from the shock of it. And sighing in relief that nothing of the sort happened, he prepared to join in on the fight.

Only for Manaka to pull on his red hair by a newly made ponytail. Her cheeks were puffed out.

"Shirou-sama. Please don't misunderstand. But immediately reacting to another woman when you didn't for me is forbidden."

"A-aha." Laughing nervously was all he could do.

She let go and put her hands on her hips. Sighing, she told Shirou what she did, "I sent that abomination to beyond the city's outskirts. There's no need to worry for either Magi or civilian to find out we're fighting."

Shirou took a second to admire how she was able to calculated the distance and send the creature so quickly. It was without a doubt, a move caused by a genius.

"Manaka, you really are amazing, like I thought."

"Fufu. I love your praise, but for one touched by the root, this really is nothing."

"Ah." It was an anticlimactic reaction on the outside. But inwardly he not only connected the dots, but was dumbfounded at how small the possibility of meeting such a girl and making her fall for him was. Yet, in the end that information was second to his realization of Manaka's character.

A girl, touched by the root and thus gained something near omnipotence-that was inaccurate, as instead, it was more that something akin to omnipotence became a girl.

A cold woman not even fit to be called 'human'.

She understood things beyond the sight of any other human. And thus could not understand them, and could not be understood by them. And instead she pretended, that she could be understood, yet that feeling of 'something is missing from this person' kept others away.

'A perfect knight is not what I need-'

Because she knew so much, she was bored by it all. So she decided to give herself something she would not be bored by. She 'idealed a meeting with a heroic king' simply because there was no boredom in that. Yet, there was no doubt that she foresaw such a thing happening.

Which meant, even that was just a passing fancy. An emotion faked for the sake of filling up something that was not even hollow.

But then she saw him on the streets saving a man that was meant to die, he who was not a part of the world she saw. And for once, her heart and mind was moved.

By the feeling known as curiosity.

She knew nothing, and that fact made her feel so much more than even her father's death.

Her emptiness gained a hole, which was filled with a feeling she knew, but never felt. Her curiosity, something that was even more impossible than her love. And so 'what was missing' was now carved into her like any other human being.

Because he was not meant to be in this world, he interfered with its future. No event would play the same with him involved.

Such as 'this war'.

"Ugh. Somehow, I feel a harsh pressure on my shoulders."

"Yes, there should be. After all, a man who ignores the feelings of the different women who love him is definitely a scumbag right?"

"Rig-wait, hold on! That's not what I meant!"

Manaka giggled as she ignored him, she removed her original hole in space to create a smaller one, this time near the ground rather than in the sky.

"I feel a headache coming on..." Nonetheless, he jumped through the hole. 'Should I use a command seal? No, they're still at the restaurant, I just have to hope Ruler notices I ran into a fight.'

* * *

Ruler wondered what he did to deserve this.

A blonde haired (wo)man in a suit was accompanied by a beautiful mature woman with red eyes and long silver hair in winter wear.

Now he didn't often curse, he was usually too composed.

Not at the moment however.

'What. The. Fuck.'

What were the odds that of the hundreds of places to eat in the city a servant and their master would choose this one of all places. Worse was that it was Saber and her proxy master Irisviel. The two with the closest connection to him through a single man.

He took a moment to admire Irisviel. She certainly looked like she could be the mother of a certain master of Berserker. And part of him wondered if Illyasviel would look this beautiful if she was never tricked into fighting in the Holy Grail War.

"Oy, Ruler. What should we do." Medea whispered to him.

He wondered that too. It's not as if they needed to worry about a fight. Saber was too honorable for that.

Kiritsugu was the real problem.

If he knew that there were servants here, he might not hesitate to use a command seal regardless of witnesses.

It was ruthless. But it was what the Magus Killer would have done to achieve his goals.

'Well, it should be fine as long as we don't do anything. Since we're in Medea's magical territory she's able to defend us in the case of an attack. If nothing else the spells placed on us will keep them from noticing we're not human like she did in the fifth war with the monks in the temple, even a Nanaya won't notice we're not human.'

"Just don't make any moves to them. Treat them like you would anyone other customer. Master isn't exactly here to decide what to do, so let's just play it simply. Besides these ones aren't the type to cause trouble."

Medea gave a serious nod and then looked over to Saber in curiosity. "Ruler, don't you know who all the servants in the war are? It's rude to keep them a secret from me when you mentioned them to Master."

"Actually, I only told him about some of the Masters and Servants of the original fourth war. And that's only because they involved him in a way. Best to let him mull over it now then be surprised in a battle."

"And myself?"

"If master hasn't told you, I won't either. Have fun guessing."

"What a rude man."

"What a bad cook who likes to fanta-" luckily for Medea, his comeback was interrupted by the white haired woman, hailing him over.

"Hello~. If it's fine, we'd like to order these." She said pointing to several different items.

No doubt Saber was unable to hold back from the delicious pictures of the menu.

"Of course ojou-sama." He said instinctively. He cursed at himself. If only Medea and Miyu hadn't forced him into this butler costume. And damn his younger self too for just standing on the sidelines. Who could you trust if you can't even trust yourself to watch your back?

"Hehe. Thank you."

"My thanks." Saber chipped in seriously.

He walked over to his ally currently under another name. "Ryougi, I'm going to be take the next cooking shift. Our newest guest deserves something fitting for a king."

"Alright Tomoe-eh?" 'Ryougi' doubletaked at his hint.

He resisted the urge to openly laugh at her dumbstruck face in favor of focusing on making a great amount of food for Saber. He knew how she ate, and luckily Irisviel ordered a lot, so he could simply cook it all in one sitting.

It hadn't taken long, he was an expert after all, and both Shirou and himself prepare in advance for larger parties of people.

Food was the easiest way to get people to smile, and they were heartfully devoted to that.

When he went outside with all the food balanced with the strength of a servant, he found Miyu narrowing her eyes at the oblivious woman who was pinching her cheek.

"My! You're such a cute girl! You remind me of my daughter!" Irisviel squealed motherly.

"Please stop." Miyu said. Though it actually came out as "Plastfop" everyone seemed to understand her.

"Here's your food."

Irisviel clapped her hands near her cheek, in the process letting go of the red cheeked girl who hid behind the counter with a blank face that spoke 'pout' to both Ruler and Caster.

"Wow! That was so fast! And it looks so good!"

"It tastes better." He informed them.

There was no doubt in their eyes. The two ate with joy, Irisviel freely expressing it, and Saber's shown in her eyes.

He was glad to see that there was nothing to worry about, and in truth this scene reminded him of a dream where he saved humanity with countless heroes, including the two in front of him, even if those versions were different.

But of course, it seemed that he had tempted fate.

A young woman in her late twenties with red shoulder length hair with lace band in it came in. Her outfit consisted of a green dress with a white jumper underneath it and her lower had had thigh-highs and white boots. I holding her hand was a tiny boy with short red hair who wore a blue and white shirt.

She came in with a non Japanese man with broad shoulders who had a black shirt under an open green hoodie.

It was the man who was the problem.

For he was a servant, just like Saber, Caster, and Ruler.

As if that wasn't enough, he felt his Reality Marble resonate, meaning his younger self had somehow found himself in trouble, or rather, the trouble had found its way to find him. At least Ruler knew that if things escalated beyond Shirou's power he had command seals.

The Masters and Servants found themselves looking at each other before he could do anything.

'Shit.' He cursed again.

Luckily, he did happen to recognize the other servant, though he didn't know who the woman and the child were.

"Oh my! What a cute boy!" Irisviel said enthusiastically, trying to break the ice between herself and someone who she would eventually find herself in battle with.

The woman remained on guard, and warily looked at the surroundings. Ruler could tell that she didn't want to start a fight, but she didn't want to get friendly either.

"Luca!" The boy responded himself. "You're pretty! But mama is prettiest in the world!"

Irisviel pouted, but didn't argue.

"Now now Elsa, no need to be on guard. I can tell this person has no desire to fight with so many people around." The man said patting the woman's back.

"I will remain cordial if you do so as well." Saber responded.

Ruler decided to take this moment to butt in. "May I take your orders?"

Elsa looked confused at him. Which in turn confused him. "Hm? Are you a new worker here? I didn't know Shirou-kun finally took my advice and hired other workers. I must say, you really look like him, are you siblings?"

Ruler gave a strained smile. "No. We're cousins. That's my wife Ryougi Shiki behind the counter with Shirou's sister."

"I see, well, Miyu-chan should know our usual, we'll just double it for now."

He gives the message off to the two females closest to the kitchen.

When he looked back to the the two masters, he found the both of them looking at him.

'What is it this time.'

Irisviel spoke first. "I must say Tomoe-san, you really remind me of my husband."

Ruler couldn't even pretend to be surprised. And not wanting to look strange by acting weird, he decided to be normal. "Sorry miss, even if you are beautiful I have a beautiful wife of my own."

Irisviel blinked before realizing what he meant. "N-no no!"

He snorted and looked at the red haired woman who was looking at him rather intently.

"...I have to say, it was odd enough that Shirou-kun feels like my own son, but even you..."

Ruler wondered if this was motherly instinct at work.

It would certainly be ironic if Ruler, who had no memory of his family, met one of them here.

He understood the nuance of those words spoken thoughtlessly.

It wasn't that he and Shirou simply looked like her child.

They made her feel like they were her own children.

Impossible, since she held only one child.

But that would be another story if all three boys, were in fact the same person, from different worlds.

But Ruler didn't care. There was no need to. He has long since moved away from his past, let alone the past he didn't remember. Almost the same could be said of Shirou.

"Uhm. Sorry about that. Anyways, where is Shirou-kun?" Elsa said after shrugging off her feeling.

"He went out with one of his little admirers. It seems he decided that since they all like him, he should also like all of them."

That was a lie of course. But she didn't know that.

Nor would Shirou when he returns.

Elsa gained a tic mark. "That boy...even though I said that he's still young and he needs to relax, becoming a playboy is definitely not allowed." She unconsciously gripped her fist and, for some reason, Ruler felt a shiver alongside her child.

It was unfortunate that Ruler knew that this was still the likely future for Shirou, and was simply glad that he wouldn't face her motherly wrath.

* * *

Shirou felt a harsh shiver hit him just as he dodged under the monster's swing.

He wondered what the hell this monster was.

The chains gave off a miasma that prevented not only his sight as a Master from seeing anything about it, but he couldn't even read the history of those weapons.

Lancer dived down spear first into the monster's neck, her flaming spear still caused the barest of scratches.

"I'm sorry Shirou-sama! But I don't know anything about that beast, only that it's a false Heroic Spirit!" Shirou thought she sounded too cheerful, but figured he'd let it go given her condition.

"Well, it's not as if I have to hold back now."

He gripped Gáe Bolg. Prana filed it. And kept filling it.

Until eventually it morphed.

Originally holding a single bladed tip, it now held a jagged multi-spearheaded tip as if he had used its anti-army form.

" **Break!:[Gáe Bolg: Barbed Spear that Pierces with Death][Spear of Impaling Barbed Death]** "

In an instant, the spearheads shot out and converged on a single spot at multiple angles.

The giant, who's skin repelled this blow once before...

"Shit!"

...Repelled it once again.

"Sorry Shirou-sama! But it'll be had to let Lancer use her Noble Phantasm when your around!"

Shirou understood that much, unlike the monstrosity, Lancer had nothing keeping him from analyzing her weapon.

The eldest Valkyrie, and daughter to Odin. She was compassionate, but she was cursed. She loved heroes, but would always kill them.

Brynhldr. Lover, and killer, of Sigurd.

Shirou still didn't think he fit the bill of hero, but if Manaka wasn't letting Lancer use her Noble Phantasm, that meant it would definitely affect him somehow.

He hopped backwards and brought out his bow, Ruler's bow.

As long as Lancer kept their enemy busy, he could freely shoot the monster.

The barbed spear of death was formidable, but it was far from the best he could use.

The first arrow was notched. It was large before, but now it was thin.

" **{Caladbolg}**!"

His shot out at speeds even a servant would have trouble seeing.

Only to detonate in the air from a chain hitting it.

But he anticipated this, for the moment he saw that some of the chains were loose, that they could potentially be used.

The first shot was to get its attention.

The second shot wasn't.

" **{Hrunting}**!"

The red projectile traveled quickly, but for Shirou it was like slow motion. It dodged each chain swung at it, moving with a finesse unbefitting of a deadly projectile, and eventually nailed its target in the eye.

It roared. And it's roar alone shook Shirou's bones. It was that of a Cornered Alpha Lion. Manaka grabbed him and they were suddenly miles away, but for Shirou, the giant was still an easy target.

"Shirou-sama, please don't worry about Lancer, use whatever you have at your disposal."

Shirou traced more versions of Caladbolg and Hrunting, noticing that Manaka was assisting him.

Apparently touching the root meant even the magecraft of a reality marble was possible.

Tracing one last weapon, he set it down next to him as he reached for Hrunting...only for Manaka to hold it out to him in her hands.

He couldn't resist the sweat drop despite the situation. Regardless, he took it.

He shot, charging the shot for five seconds.

He shot again, charging for ten seconds.

Each time, he charged his arrows, regardless of what sword it once was, as they were handed to him.

The blaring red shots slammed straight into the thick neck that was bleeding from Lancer's first attack. Then, the Caladbolgs, which did not have the same mobility as the Hruntings, slammed straight into the thick muscled chest.

It was clear that even its skin could not resist so many powerful shots, and thus it roared in pain.

The wind blew them back, but Shirou grabbed Manaka and made sure she didn't fall.

"T-thank you Shirou-sama." That would have been more believable to anyone who didn't notice that she was staring at Shirou's abs. And of course...

Shirou kept his eyes on a single vulnerable spot.

"Manaka, use flash air to get me into that things blindspot at the right moment."

"Un!" Manaka affirmed his words.

He grabbed the last traced weapon. A spear, no, more like a pilum.

He jumped upwards, as if he held a red spear rather than a gold bladed spear. He reared backwards, as if he were high jumping in a Track and Field event, and found himself hearing the sound of crackling chains slamming into ice.

A look at his target saw that Lancer had encased its limbs with ice, and the runes on both her spear and the ground suggested that she had acted quickly from Manaka's order, otherwise the runes could have encased its target entirely even for a few seconds.

But with only its limbs frozen, it could still move around from forcing its body to move.

And so, he needed to act quickly.

" **Break!:[Durindana Pilum: Ultimate Unbroken Spear]** "

The spear which could only be stopped by something like a shield with seven oxen hides shot forward. The owner of the weapon always intended on regaining it.

Shirou had no such intentions.

And so the spear became a fiery rocket several lengths greater than it previously was.

It pierced its target fully, completely unlike his previous spear. From the back of its neck, to the front of its chest.

Shirou grinned as Lancer caught him.

They landed on the ground and Shirou congratulated themselves. "Thanks a lot for holding that thing back Lan-cer?"

He was understandably taken back as it seemed that the blindfold Lancer was wearing slipped off. Her beautiful amethyst eyes were revealed.

And he then quickly realized that they were indeed a fitting Master and Servant pair, because they both had the ability to have hearts in their eyes.

'Oh, so this is why Manaka made her servant look so kinky.'

The servant was blushing. And he wondered how on earth she had somehow fallen in love with him.

For about five seconds, as he realized that Manaka had likely talked about him so much to the point that Lancer herself felt like she knew him.

He looked over to the impaled monster man. The shadows seemed to be dripping away along with some black mud.

It felt foul, and he wondered if he should blow up its remains.

"That thing was like a Berserker...but how could we have been found so quickly? No way a master had discovered us already. And for a servant...it still seemed awfully weak."

Indeed, for even if it was a Berserker that was still terrifyingly strong: who's skin bounced away Gáe Bolg like it was nothing, and took the onslaught of primordial runes and and a dozen noble phantasms to even pierce its skin, it was still too quick.

Surely the master would have used a command seal to teleport it away? If not that, shouldn't the servant have some sort of Noble Phantasm? It didn't make sense it Shirou's mind.

Not all battles were long. Shirou knew that from his own war, when he sniped Berserker from miles away, and killed both Caster and Lancer within seconds.

But even so, for a Heroic Spirit, a Berserker; to have died in such a quick way, it didn't feel right, even Gilles de Rais as Caster put up more of a fight. This Berserker didn't even hit the two of them.

"Mhmhmhm." He heard muffling from beside him.

It was Lancer. It seemed like she was telling him something.

"Uh, you can take that off for now." He wasn't sure why he said for now, but he figured that Manaka would have told Lancer to also follow his orders.

Brynhldr plucked the gag off, and Shirou's eyes lingered over the dripping saliva before he remembered that he just killed something, and abandoned those thoughts.

"Ah." She was soft spoken. Fitting, in Shirou's mind. "You shouldn't overthink things Master." She saw his ludicrous look and elaborated. "Master has said that your orders are to be above her own. I am Brynhldr, I wish to serve you both perfectly. Um. I'm sorry. But please be mean to me. If you're nice to me, I'll kill you."

Shirou grimaced at her words for how many layers were on it. And decided to look away to the corpse.

Corpse?

"Wait, shouldn't that thing be gone by now?" The thought came to him absently.

Then Shirou's and Brynhldr's eyes widened as the servant pushed Shirou back.

The shadows that dripped away were gone, revealing a muscled face with a red and black mane.

The shadow being was pierced standing up, and so it was no surprise that they could see it's face.

What was surprising was when it's lone eye showed anger.

Which was exactly why Byrnhldr pushed back Shirou, ensuring that the shattered ice from the monster's flex didn't hit him as she made a wall of fire.

"It came back to life!" He shouted. "But without those shadows... it's clear that's Heracles! But it looks nothing like him!"

The beast was already larger than the original Heracles, but now with the mud no longer clinging to it, it was growing, no, it was simply not being held back by the mud.

"At this rate-!"

The monstrous man stood at full height. The spear that pierced him no longer reached the ground.

"•••••••••"

Chapter end: A mystery to realize

* * *

Manaka chapter 1- Realizing that I'm not empty.

The streets were warm, the sky was clear. The rural city was as populated as it could be around this time of day.

For some, it was a sight that they could find normality and comfort in.

Not me though. It was the same, boring sight as always. Even if the people were different and the cars weren't the same.

There was nothing to care about in such a sight.

My sister clung to my side, though not physically, she grew out of that phase, unfortunately. Or fortunately. It was never something to note.

The plain, glasses wearing girl walked meekly, trying not to touch the people passing by.

I however, strove forth confidently, and of course, the meek Japanese people shoved themselves aside for me.

How dull.

They were predictable.

Not a single thing ever deviated from their future.

Even I am not different from them, and I despise it all.

But even that faded to thoughtlessness, for at least if I was not thinking, I could not be bored.

Even my father, who cared for my sister and I, had died. And the sadness I felt that he would no longer tuck us in bed, faded away, for it happened exactly as I saw. Dying, to kill a magus who wanted money.

It would have happened regardless of my actions. No, rather it was because I had tried acting out that I also saw other futures where he died, and became certain that it was predetermined.

Was there a human that could defy fate?

Was there a human that could accept me?

The answer was no. But I imagined it anyways. Because it was an impossible future, one with the least chance of happening.

But it would happen. And the smile I had in that future was certainly fake.

But maybe I can pretend that it matters. And it would eventually be real.

These hollow emotions are all I know. And even a baby's emotions were more real than my own. Certainly, I felt pain, happiness, and anger. But they never lasted. I saw they wouldn't. And I felt they wouldn't. Only Euphoric pleasures were true. Yet, if I were to fall to them, they too, would become as bland as the rest.

Apathy. That was all that always remained.

The joy I had in my magecraft was nonexistent. And why would I need magecraft to reach the root, when I already have?

Why feel happy of events that will play out exactly as they are meant to?

There were things in this world that simply were, and I was one of them.

Anger, was perhaps the truest emotion I felt next to Apathy. For I hated my own existence.

My anger, was not a fire like others. Their fire[anger] would increase and decrease at any moments notice. A wind could blow it out, or it could make it grow. My anger was a rock, that has never grown nor decreased.

But it was there. And I wanted to take that rock[anger] and crush this existence that I knew everything about.

If I could create a future where I foresaw nothing. Then maybe I could feel happiness.

But every future with those attempts failed.

So at least, I'll simply pretend that I love my beautiful sister, who hates being compared to me.

I could not make that love real, because she would never try to make herself better than me at anything.

She was just another human like the rest of them.

I wish I was a human like them. Perhaps, then I could remain oblivious and happy.

I looked across the street where a crowd was gathering.

My sister froze up, she felt the crowd's alarm, but more importantly she saw the reason for their distress.

A body. Flat on the ground.

Tatsumi Kitano. Early twenties. Aspired to be a hero because it was 'right'. Yet doing nothing but living his everyday life. Died saving a child from a car. His heart was stopped from the shock. All he required was a jolt once he reached the emergency room. There, he would gain a mystic eye, but never unlock it.

I knew there was no need to worry. There wasn't even a need to care, and besides, even that crowd would forget about him soon enough.

The crowd would slowly, disperse when the ambulance arrived.

It would happen soon, and we would stay to see it because my sister would be too scared to move.

I moved closer. This would force Ayaka to get closer to me, and I could return home and sleep, because the emotions in those dreams were realer than anything I could feel in reality. Dreams were unpredictable, and it was one of those dreams where a King would create a kingdom of happiness.

But then it was clear to me. Something wasn't supposed to be there.

That's not possible. Because everything was always where it was meant to be.

A red haired boy. With features I've never seen, and eyes full of something I can't imagine.

He pumped Kitano's chest, and used magecraft.

Kitano's heart beated once again.

I... huh?

He's... alive already?

And... who is this boy?

My knees were trembling. And I don't recall a time where that's happened.

What is this boy's name? Does he have family? Does he have a dream? What is his magecraft?

What is his future?

I found myself asking so many questions. I've only ever heard others ask them. I've never asked them myself.

If this...what it means to not know something?

Is this...what it means to be human?

Then...am I human?

I remain frozen, staring at a boy who didn't exist. He waited with Kitano until the ambulance arrived to take him. The crowd patted him on the back and cheered for him...and I wished **they moved out of the way**.

Is that...anger? Sorrow?

I...didn't want to remain in this state of not knowing. Yet, that didn't mean I wanted to stop being human.

When the crowd clears, the boy walks by to my side on the street.

For the first time. I can't think of anything. I don't know what to do. I don't know what he'll do.

This feeling pooled within my chest. But it grew. And it grew, until I realized that perhaps, this is what it means to not have bland emotions.

A strong desire to know or learn something.

That is curiosity.

Because I don't want to remain 'in the dark', doesn't that mean I have desire? Like how my body desires food after starving?

This boy, no, man, from the way he walks; has made me feel, and in these minutes I felt more than I ever would have even if my hollow emotions through my entire life were combined.

"I love you."

The words flowed out of my mouth before I could stop them.

No, even if I could stop them, I wouldn't.

Because those words, coming to me impulsively...

They were the proof that I was human. That these feelings were real.

And I wouldn't let them fade. Nothing else in the world mattered.


	6. RealizationFiveConflict

realization/5-Realization of conflict.

AN: honestly fuck me I wanted to get this out like a week after my last chapter came out but of fucking course life got in the way. I totally jinxed myself. I tried to make it super long in return for the long wait but the longer it took the more I realized I needed more momentum to keep writing, so for now this is what you get. Sorry.

Ayaka and Misaya were supposed to be a big focus in this chapter but I decided to just shoot out what I had because of how long it's been since the last update and I wanted to get the plot rolling.

Hope everyone likes these Interlude chapters because they'll keep coming. They'll be focused Mostly from the characters not native to Zero. Simply because most of zeros cast have absolutely nothing to do with Shirou. Saber has nothing to do with miyuverse Shirou while I'm looking forward to showing what I have in store for Kiritsugu and Irisviel. Also, the Interlude chapter with Elsa starts at two because 1 is her first meeting and I didn't want to write it, yet.

Anyways, usually I don't want to answer reviews that people will find out later but given how long it took to make this I want to say it, but Bryn isn't entering the harem. Sure she'll get haremish scenes but Shirou won't fully waifu her due to who and what she is. I don't think I need to explain the why and how.

I also think it's hilarious people compare my writing to light novels sometimes. But it's true since I've been reading a lot of those lately.

And yes a few have mentioned being annoyed at the double language but it's better to just deal with it. I only use it when there's a message or meaning that gets translated better in Japanese. For example-The polite versions behind first time greetings in Japanese don't translate as well in English, and plenty of words don't have an equal translation in English. Like Watashi or Ore which are traits to help compare/contrast Shirou/EMIYA/KuroYumi.

Also spoiler for the chapter. But there isn't a right place to write it in. But Rin and her family only know Shirou through Miyu, who kept Sakatsuki, so that's why they don't call him Emiya. It's only in the school system where he's written down as Emiya Shirou, while if somebody would look at the residents in the city they would see Sakatsuki Shirou.

Chapter Start

 _Shirou entered his new classroom. The school was the same as his old one, though the uniform was different. He had long dark blue sleeves over a white collared shirt and had an orange tie. It didn't look like his old uniform, but he supposed that it could change in the next decade or so._

 _The class was full of new faces which, go figure, made a lot of sense. There was more students in a classroom then he was used to, but it was a welcome change._

 _"So- everyone, meet Emiya Shirou-kun. He's moved in from out of town, Emiya-kun, please make a brief introduction and sit in the empty seat at the back._

 _Realizing he didn't have a smile, Shirou quickly remedied that as he began lifting his hand up in greeting. He had gotten lost in his thinking about the last person who had called him Emiya. "It's nice to meet you all. My family owns a small restaurant not too far from school, so feel free to visit while I work. I have one little sister in Elementary and both the scars and the hair are natural. I'll be in your care."_

 _The class seemed satisfied at his introduction, and more than a few seemed to note to themselves to ask where he worked. Not the least of which was because a new restaurant in a somewhat rural city was rare._

 _Of course none seemed to catch his half lie. Sure Miyu was his family, but ultimately they were two non adults and could not own a shop. Plus he needed something to do while Miyu was in her own school. He still looked like a teenager so in the end it was either this or dominate the criminal underworld._

 _He hasn't ruled out the latter option just yet._

 _Anyways, only two reactions seemed to stand out as he walked to his seat._

 _Two students, girls, looked at him with a cautious eye. One more fearful than the other._

 _Which was odd, seeing as he hadn't done anything to warrant that type of attention. Sure, he was still a bit scarred, and his hair was still dyed in white, but everyone else had curiosity, while these two looked like they were ready for him to attack them. As if that wasn't enough, what really got his attention was how they hid their caution behind a mask. If his experiences with Sakura and Julian taught him anything, it was that no lie was absolute. Looking back on their interactions, his two best friends had let slip their true feelings out plenty of times, only he never thought to dig under them. There was just no reason to._

 _Everyone had their secrets. There was no reason for him to pry simply for curiosity's sake._

 _So to put it simple. His first day of school and he already had some potential enemies._

 _Great._

 _Just._

 _Great._

 _He sat down next to the window, looking at his neighbor. Who incidentally happened to be one of the girls wary of him, though her gaze was hidden behind a mask of shyness. Somewhat reminding him of Sakura. Also somewhat reminding him of Sakura, was that she had that aloof, shy beauty one might expect from a quiet wife. It was a beauty one might gloss over due to the woman fading into the background. But one could still find themselves lost in staring. If they knew what to look for._

 _The shy, wary girl wore glasses that covered her dim blue eyes. Her straight brown hair reached her shoulders and had frontal bangs that covered her forehead except for a small slim portion in the middle._

 _She looked familiar, but he couldn't remember why._

 _Lessons passed by without issue, the girl next to him remained tense while he did his best to appear non threatening._

 _His classmates surrounded him as the teacher left. Some of the other students followed, leaving him with a quarter of the class._

 _They bombarded him with questions. Unfortunately for his neighbor, she was caught in the circle of interrogation. He noticed she seemed especially distraught at being surrounded. It wasn't an act. If anything, she was trying to hide her distress._

 _"Maa maa. Come on everyone. I can answer your questions without being surrounded."_

 _They took the joke in good nature by chuckling and sitting on the desks and chairs._

 _As they were moving Shirou moved his gaze to his neighbor who looked at him in surprise. He didn't expect her to notice the motive behind his words, but it looked like she did. He gave her a smile and bowed his head a little. "I'll be in your care."_

 _She flushed, clearly not used to people talking to her. "Um...I'm Sayjou Ayaka. I'll do my best."_

 _Shirou was actually amused by her awkwardness, but didn't comment on it. No doubt the girl knew about her own lack of comfort in socializing._

 _"Ne- Emiya-kun. I sure am jealous that you have a little sister. My own parents have been wanting to give me one for awhile, but they want to save up some money first. Ah, I'm Moriyama Nanami. It's nice to meet you."_

 _The pinkish haired girl gave a friendly smile. This began to kick off a series of introductions and he struggled to keep up, but he did his best to listen._

 _"Now now everyone, don't overwhelm him." A new voice popped in. "Our transfer student sure is one of a kind with looks like that. I don't think any of us ever expected someone like this."_

 _That was when he saw his second object of interest. The other girl who looked at him warily, but was currently giving a show of prideful kindness. She was beautiful. No doubt about that. Her beauty was different from Sakura's or Ayaka's. She was captivating. Her confidence showed and none could deny it. Certainly, her very presence attracted eyes towards her. She had long black hair that reached her back with bangs reaching her red eyes, eyes that showed that she knew what she looked like. Her every feature was like paint on a white wall. In other words. Obvious._

 _Why did he feel like he was describing somebody else? No, two somebodies else's._

 _No matter. He needed to get along with all his classmates if he wanted to be a role model for Miyu. He wanted to make sure that girl became friendly and cheerful._

 _This girl had a mask similar to his own, true friendliness, but with a wall meant to ensure a certain amount of distance. She didn't feel like a threat. In fact she actually reminded him of one of Miyu's new friends, only older, so maybe that was one of the people he was reminded of earlier._

 _"Reirouken Misaya. It's a pleasure. I hope you can get along with all of us without any trouble."_

 _Shirou understood the subtle message in that. "Get along with all of us" being that she hoped that he was legitimately going to be friends with them in some capacity, and "without any trouble" in that he also hopefully wasn't going to hurt or use the classmates. There was also the unsaid threat lurking behind her eyes, a threat she didn't realize she was showing, that she would take him down if he tried anything._

 _Maybe this girl wasn't so bad._

 _"Ne Emiya! Have you passed by this beautiful blonde girl our age in school yet? She looks like a foreigner, but she's just a hāfu. But get this, she's the sister of Ayaka here!They're sisters, but they couldn't look any more different."_

 _The description did remind Shirou of something, and now that he thought about it, Ayaka had been in the background when that strange girl had confessed to him. If they were magi, they would have felt him using magecraft, which would explain her hesitancy towards him. Even if he did use it to help another._

 _"I'm so jealous of Ayaka having such a great and gorgeous sister." One of the guys began to pitch in. "My one sister is a complete hag to me."_

 _"The closest thing I have to a sibling are my cousins and they're tolerable at best."_

 _Shirou just took a moment to appreciate how earnest they all were. He had been incredibly close to Julian and Sakura despite all appearances, but the three of them were never really honest about their own backgrounds. Hell, he had only learned about Sakura's family near the end of their relationship..._

 _No. It wouldn't do to dwell. "Y'know." He started off. "My own sister can be a bit of a handful sometimes, I always do her hair for her and set her pajamas. She just loves getting spoiled." He laughed a bit at the end, the others seemed impressed at how close he was to his sister, and how good of a brother he was._

 _The day passed by without anything notable. Other than him getting along with his classmates._

 _Except for the physical education class._

 _The class in their gym clothes were gathered at the track with all sorts of equipment out. The first thing he had his eye on in particular was a large mat and a bar set rather low._

 _The second thing he had his eye on was his female classmates. Miyu may be his first priority, but he didn't want to let another girl just slip past his fingers like Sakura._

 _Mostly because he felt really, really bad for rejecting Sakura's feelings due to the situation, and partially because he was felt the effects of having teenage male hormones._

 _He also blamed the sexual memories of a certain red Archer, memories that he realized he had after sleeping one night. How could he look not be affected when he had the image of a certain "onee-san" red headed queen's naked body or of a super Celtic bitch?_

 _On the bright side he was pretty sure he didn't have virgin insecurity, which was more than what he could say for his classmates, so it wasn't difficult to not stare hard, which was more than what the other guys could say._

 _He wasn't the greatest of company for the whole class, as he was focused on jumping the high bar without any reinforcement, and also with increasing the height each time he succeeded._

 _He tried and tried until the bar was even higher than his head._

 _There was no chance of success._

 _But he tried anyways._

 _He wouldn't succeed. Not without reinforcement._

 _But he learned the beauty behind impossibilities. As long as you try hard enough, it becomes possible._

 _And his class learned that through watching him with awed eyes. Seeing an earnest effort to improve succeed, they couldn't help but feel something genuine toward what they were witnessing._

* * *

"This is seriously absurd!"

"It really is exciting isn't it!"

"No! No it is not!"

"Um. Masters. Now isn't the time to argue."

Half an hour had passed since the initial resurrection of the False Heracles. In that time, they killed the beast four times, and four times he had resurrected, becoming stronger, and larger.

The chains which once clenched the body of the shadow now hung freely, swinging around at every move. They now burned a blood red, and the beast's mane which was once black dyed with red became more and more crimson with each death.

It seemed clear to both Brynhldr and Shirou that whoever this Heracles looking man was, he didn't hold any of the skill the true heroic spirit had, merely his stats.

Of course the fact that it's stats kept growing after each death was their biggest problem. They killed the beast once with Durindana, once with Brynhldr's noble phantasm, once when Manaka poured lava over the False Heracles, and once when Manaka used Flash Air to summon Caladbolg inside its head.

Shirou figured he could kill the shadow at least two more times, but he had a feeling taking anymore lives wasn't going to be any easier. They were lucky that it's endurance had started out rather easily penetrable. If he had to compare it, it was a weird hybrid of the strength level of a heroic spirit within an Class Card and the strength of a normal servant(if normal even existed for servants).

Shirou already stopped using the Lancer Install, and was ready to use the Berserker install at any moment.

His clothes were ruined from the battle, but luckily he was able to avoid any direct hits from the shadow itself as it still hit hard.

Manaka being able to do nearly all magecraft in existence was a serious asset, but there was no end in sight with this thing.

He could risk using Unlimited BladeWorks, but if the thing didn't stay dead after being killed for The Who knows how many-th time then they'll be forced to retreat since he wouldn't be in any condition to fight. Which would be-

Wait.

Why were they even fighting still?

They weren't burdened by any civilians and Manaka could just Flash them away.

"Change of plans! Manaka, Lancer! We're leaving!"

"Hmm. Well, if that's what you want." Manaka was disappointed they wouldn't continue fighting the unknown, but figured living was still a high priority. Even she would rather not take the risk, not if the battle hardened Shirou was against it.

Meanwhile Brynhldr was still in combat with the enemy. She was no longer able to clash head on with the shadow. She was frantically dodging the blows and carving all sorts of runes on the ground and on the shadow in an attempt to obstruct it's movements.

The beast was frozen, electrocuted, set on fire, and wrapped in shadows, yet it still wouldn't die, or rather, stay dead.

Shirou needed to give Manaka an opening to get them out of their and make sure the beast didn't follow.

"Trigger, set."

He summoned a large golden axe. It cost more than a stone sword, but it was necessary in order to get through the denser skin of this Heracles rip off. Had he tried this technique earlier, the stone sword would have been enough.

 **"{Nine Lives BladeWorks}**!"

In the span of a second, Shirou's arm ripped open and blood spurred out at the sudden movements, it was necessary to move at such great speeds that bypassed his reinforcement to add greater force to his strikes. In eight different places Shirou sliced at its limbs, and for the final strike, he slammed the axe into its chest.

"It's time to-!?" Shirou paused his words. When his axe disappeared from the chest it was shoved into, he saw a pure black card in place of a heart.

As if proving his instinctive thoughts that it was a weakness yet something to watch out for, shadows poured out from the card and lunged at him.

"Shit!"

A steel broadsword, nondescript and without ability, was launched at the shadows to give him space. Immediately, it was eaten away and he watched as each inch disappeared. Not wanting the weakness to be block off, he summoned a stronger weapon, Caladbolg-this time in its true form, and sent the large sword drill straight into the beasts chest.

Suddenly he was picked up bridal style and was carried away from the shadows. He discarded his male pride and thought about the darkness that tried to swallow him. It wouldn't be safe to let it touch him or Manaka, it did something...odd-with his sword before eating it, taking it in for some reason.

"Manaka, you saw that too didn't you?" He asked as Brynhldr dropped him off. He didn't thank her since he was pretty sure that counted as being nice.

"Yes. I believe we found a precious chink in our opponent's armor. If things don't go terribly wrong, I suppose we no longer have reason to retreat. You seem to be prepared for more battle."

"But still, I can't figure this thing out, so we need to be careful. Without that black mist we can see it's stats, but it's Noble Phantasm and even class name are just...blank, ripped away rather. I don't think this thing is what we think it is."

"Certainly, you are the one with more experience when it comes to these kinds of things. I'll take your word for it, but either way we need to immobilize it once more in order to hit that Black Card."

Shirou let out a deep breath while Brynhldr left to engage the enemy. His body was sore from the constant Projecting, and he was easily nearing the amount of prana spent during his battle with Angelica alone. While he wasn't in any danger of overheating, even he was hard pressed to ignore the feeling his circuits were giving off.

Manaka grabbed him and Flashed the two to the previous rocky environment she had last time. The blackened monster was too fast for his eyes to keep up with now. Brynhldr herself was barely managing to weave herself around the monster's blows, and luckily the few hits that did land were not as devastating as it would be from the real Heracles.

Now, the safest thing he could do was fight with his Bow. With the support of Manaka's magecraft that was near the level of that of the Age of Gods, surely they could hit one measly weakness like they've done the last few times, especially with it so largely exposed?

Yeah right. If only things were that easy.

* * *

Elsa would not particularly call herself cheerful.

She could drink alcohol more than most men, and do so with a smile on her face, but that did not mean she was cheerful, it was just that the activity itself was fun.

She didn't drink because she was burdened, she drank because it was enjoyable.

But that didn't mean she wasn't burdened at all.

For example. Right now she was very burdened by the fact that she was sitting right next to a Master in the Holy Grail War. An Einzbern at that.

It was a war she thought she didn't qualify for. Right up until last week when her hand felt like it was stabbed and a bruise immediately appeared.

It was beyond her expectations, but she was gladdened for it. A part of her had been worried that she and her son would end up as casualties. Her family may be magi, but that certainly wasn't going to stop other magi from doing anything cruel, especially if they have servants to back up their practices. Even that Tokiomi gave his daughter away due to his principles, and no matter how honest and good his intentions were, the fact remained he abandoned one child for another. Not to mention rumor had it that the Magus Killer was fighting in the war as well. She wouldn't put it past the bastard to kill her and steal away her son and turn him into a puppet like he did that woman who was constantly wagging her tail for him. He already manipulated this airhead of an Einzbern, her general compliments of a man who's description fitted the Magus Killer gave it all away.

Elsa's original plan since she wasn't picked as a master was to take Luca as well as Shirou and his cute little sister Miyu out of the city. She couldn't help anyone else, but those two orphans she could help at least. Now she had to dump that plan for another. She had come to Shirou's little restaurant to hypnotize him into staying in his house where it's safe, but now she inadvertently put him and his little sister in danger, having brought her servant straight to another. Or perhaps fate intervened to have her save them. Naturally she hoped for the latter.

She hoped that the Magus Killer was nowhere near here, the Einzbern and her servant at least looked civil enough. The Heartless Magus Killer wouldn't have thought for a second before killing everyone in this shop just to kill her, even if they were all innocents.

It wouldn't be the first time he killed bystanders for a single target. Hell, it wouldn't be the first time he killed an innocent, or even a child, and while she was generally not one to maliciously think ill of or to others, she was going to keep a gun glued on the bastard's head.

She might keep another glued on this woman while she was at it. The obvious naivety about how the world worked was grinding on her nerves. Each conversation started by the Einzbern was filled with questions even children knew the answers to.

The other person who was clearly far more levelheaded was somewhat a godsend, being the one to diffuse the excitement in her master.

The only thing keeping her calm was the two servants who who kept civil and the fact that Luca and Miyu were there.

Speaking of Miyu, the girl seemed more pouty than usual.

Must be due to Shirou's absence, she thought of reluctantly.

That boy was so much trouble and she didn't even take care of him. Even if he had new help, he shouldn't be pawning off his sister to them.

Speaking of the new help, she had to admit they were rather odd in their own way.

Looking at Tomoe, she wondered who he really was. From her talks with Shirou, she had assumed they were alone with no other family, but that didn't seem to be the case right now.

She would just have to confront Shirou about the truth. She knew the boy would crack under the pressure and tell her the truth. Now was hardly the time to keep secrets.

As long as he wasn't getting himself into any trouble, she wouldn't give him a hard time.

* * *

Unfortunately fighting from a distance was not a option. This time, the Heracles(?) followed them, leaving them no other option then to fight up close.

Manaka, who was unused to the battlefield, was becoming dead weight. Her body, which had never struggled, was far past its limits. The feeling from casting Magecraft had become unbearable, and her nerves were burning. There was only one other time where she felt this way, and it was a time where she failed to save another. She wouldn't fail. Not this time. She didn't know if that would be true, but she wanted to do her best to make sure it was.

Shirou, who could see her red face, knew she was becoming a target as well.

'I'll have to give them a chance to take it down. If nothing else, that much I can do!'

Burning. Burning. Burningburningburningburning.

It was cold, why was it so hot?

The roaring gained her attention.

She needed to think carefully. If it were chains, it would be broken. If it was an element, it would simply be blown away.

She didn't know what to do, her mind once more gave no answer of what to do.

She needed to think for herself, search for an answer for herself{realize the answer and fulfill her potential}.

And so she looked to the one she loved, the one who against all odds she loved.

His soul was devastating **{beautiful}** it gave hints of what kind of life{Pain} he lived.

And so she looked, and looked, until she found what they needed, hidden in the depths of his soul where he hadn't realized existed alongside others.

"I am the bone of my sword..." for anyone else, the taking of such a task would not be possible. If perchance they did have a possibility of succeeding their bodies would break and their minds melt, but her, her soul was different **{Empty}**. She was once part of everything, and so her soul was like everything **{Nothing}** as well.

And so the process, while difficult was still within her reach.

Judging the concept of creation. _(Her eye forced to close in pain)_

Hypothesizing the basic structure. _(Her knees shaking threatening to collapse)_

Duplicating the composition material. _(Her mind melting as it changed it's process)_

Imitating the skill of its making. _(Knowledge of something she's never seen pounding at her)_

Sympathizing with the experience of its growth. _(Her breaths coming quicker and faster)_

Reproducing the accumulated years. _(Her fists quivering as she stomped out the imperfections)_

Excelling every manufacturing process. _(Even if she could, it didn't mean she should, but she would, because for her, it was worth it)_

Ornate chains sprung from her hands into the falsely divine body. Piercing it's innards and wrapping around it's limbs and body before chaining it to the ground, hindering its movements.

She fell forward, knowing **{Hoping}** that all would be well when she woke up.

She, for once, had a future **{love}** awaiting.

* * *

Maybe Shirou should have been surprised at seeing Manaka use his tracing.

But rather than surprise, he felt worry, even for her tracing a Noble Phantasm of this level couldn't have been easy. In the back of his mind he wondered where she found those chains, but now having seen them they were at the forefront of his mind.

Manaka may be capable of a lot things, but she clearly pushed herself past her limits, the chains were at their original quality, no degradation. But it came at its own cost, her left eye, slightly burnt, not too much like himself, but he could see it, and he was sure that if he looked closer at her some of her hair would have been drained of color.

The chained body struggled, while not fully divine, it's body still held a tiny portion of what it had, the chains would not hold it forever, not as black mud moved its body for it.

It needed to die now, it attacked them in the city, who was to say it would not do so again? They were lucky this time, but next time they might not be.

"Lancer! Use your Noble Phantasm now!" He said slashing the heel of the dark skinned monster.

"M-master. If I were to use it now-"

"Don't question me! I know what your Noble Phantasm is! Do it now or we all die! Target me and chuck your spear with all your strength."

Shirou brought out a second class card to boost his physical ability. The Berserker Class card, while holding the Heroic Spirit of Heracles, also had the ability to be Installed with other class cards, boosting their abilities. But in return, Mad Enhancement took over much faster.

But Shirou was aiming on finishing this battle. So this was no danger.

"Install!" The blue outfit that originally ordained his skin was replaced with a black coat with red fur that showed his stomach. His legs covered in black spandex and a large reptilian tail had grown from him. Skinny pieces of armor wrapped around his arms and legs as if they were manacles.

He traced a second Gae Bulg to build synergy between both the weapons and the Berserker-Lancer Install.

 **"Break! {Curruid Coinchenn: Beast of Crunching Deathtusk}!"** The skeleton of the sea monster Curruid, whose ribs were used to craft Gáe Bolg, armored his whole body in red.

 **"Break! {Gáe Bolg: Gouging Piercing Spear of Carnage}!"**

Shirou's body ripped apart and blood spurted from his arms from inside the armor from the force he was beginning to exert. They tensed up more in an attempt to keep feeling.

He roared forward, the ground cracking at his leaps. He slipped in between the legs, lacerating the Achilles heels. Jumping on the large back he gouged out the muscles and was torn away from a hand picking up his body only for its fingers to get sliced off.

"Steel...is my body!" Red colored weaponry pierced outwards from his armor and successfully into the target.

With steel at his fingertips he broke apart the weapons from his body and clawed and ripped away at the berserker's chest, red and black blood spurting out.

With black blood on his helmet Shirou gouged out its limbs and stabbed at its dark heart, missing the strange card by inches each time as tendrils slid into range instead.

Shirou's red eyes flashed over to Brynhldr. "Now!"

Brynhlrdr eyes were locked onto Shirou, the hearts' inside them shining brightly. She readied her lance above her head in preparation to throw it.

"It's troubling. My power is...Love. Hate. Love. Hate. Love. Love. Love, Love, Love..."her mind no longer aware of her enemy, she had one target. " **Brynhildr Romantia{Until Death Divide the Two Apart}!"**

By this point her lance was already over a 1000 kilograms. She had no knowledge of Shirou's plan, no knowledge there was a plan.

She only knew she wanted to kill him. For he was too similar to who she loved.

And with all her might she sent it toward Shirou.

It sliced the air and Shirou had to force his body past its limits once more. He angled his body down and pushed down with his legs as fast and as hard as he could.

The lance, larger than Brynhldr and her two masters' bodies combined, reached Shirou...

And scratched his helm, showing his red hair.

He turned his body immediately and saw lance pierce chest and land on the ground yards away, a black card impaled and cracked. It was smaller, likely an attempt to keep from getting hit, but it thankfully hadn't worked.

The body melted away into shadows, and his mind could tell that it was over. The shadows turned to sludge and melted into nothingness, the card dissolving into black dust.

He fell backwards, the armor gone. His body was bloody and purple. Brynhldr forcibly dispelled herself into her spirit form less she take advantage of Shirou's weakened state unconsciously. She wouldn't be any help either way.

'Oi. Caster, I'm gonna need you to pick up some friends and I...'

He crawled toward Manaka and sighed in relief. Things seriously spiraled out of control.

* * *

Medea, or Shiki, as that was her alius, had to question the sanity behind her master.

She realized he was no ordinary young man, as he was rather used to the feats of heroic spirits in one fashion or another.

But this!?

Fighting some copy of Heracles(and while she wasn't particularly close to that muscle head she didn't particularly like that he was defiled in some fashion) with another master and servant?

She would give him a piece of her mind if she didn't know that Ruler, or Tomoe would do it for her. (Later she would be surprised that he was rather accepting and suspicious, because seriously who's just 'a little suspicious' when some false servant appears?)

Really, the only reason he survived seemed to be due to his link with Miyu-chan, allowing him to be reckless with his prana provided he can withstand the pain, but given what she knows of her master's magecraft and attitude expecting him to stop just from pain was rather silly.

She would prefer if the reason behind her new, somewhat better life didn't die against some weird abomination.

"How're the kids?" Tomoe asked as she returned to the kitchen.

"Just fine. By night they'll be back to normal."

"Can you say anything about the shade they fought against?"

She shook her head. "There wasn't much to see. It's spirit origin was messy, as if stitched together. I can assume that whoever made it has knowledge of some level on Summoning Servants. Even the Class Cards have a closer connection to the throne than whatever summoned it, which is likely why it was both weak but also strong at the same time."

He hummed. "How troublesome...a new player has entered the game it seems...one with the ability to create false servants. I can assume that by having such a weak connection to the Throne it allows for a Summoning of more than one Servant as a familiar, but even so the mana required for such a thing has to be noticeable, so how could we have missed it? I'll have to be more vigilant in my night patrols."

She waited for him to cart out more food before continuing the conversation.

It was odd how she could speak so freely to another servant without care. The fact she didn't really care for the grail war as she could have a new life without it was relieving.

From what she could gather, any attempt to summon another servant would end in failure, even if the reason was hidden. In a battle she would lose straight out, and she wasn't sure if her reinforcement magic would be that much of a help to her master. Not when monstrous heroic spirits like Achilles or Heracles existed.

On the topic of monsters, she couldn't help but see her two male companions as such.

Sure, physical wise they were on the lower spectrum, an unfortunate side effect of their era, but their ability was top notch. Noble phantasms were trump cards. The more you had, the better your chances, and given that the two could use them at far range simply had the war in their favor.

If they actually fought the war anyways. While the thought of a Grail War starting on accident was a headache, she had a greater one from knowing that apparently Miyu-chan could still refuse giving the winner of the war the wish(which is where Ruler comes in, as he could help protect her from the winner if need be, not just this other Grail threat).

She rather owed the Emiyas, as directly or otherwise, wanted and helped her live peacefully, (even if the young girl wouldn't stop trying to hook her up with Ruler), so she would do whatever she could to help them. After all, the three had suffered enough. And they all deserved a break as far as she was concerned.

* * *

In a dark cave below the city, mud and shadows pool together into a black cup.

"It seems our |servant| was unable to kill a master."

"As expected. Alone, these creations can kill a master easily but not bypass the servant."

Two males with deep voices overlooked the cup and it's overflowing shadows.

"We will be unable to obtain a command seal from the six masters if we cannot perfect the process."

"Foolish whelp. There is no we. It is I who is doing the work. You have done nothing but oversee the process."

The hunter of heretics bowed his head to the elder.

The elder said no more, not trusting the younger man at all.

He did find it odd how the false Servants were still so weak. The Servant he summoned should have still had a semblance of personality. Instead it was more like a puppet that moved instinctively to devour masters.

A mistake in the process occurred somehow, yet he could not see where.

He watched the shadows converge on the black card inside the cup.

He must watch carefully to ensure the mistake did not happen twice.

* * *

 _Elsa Chapter 2 - Realizing that there's a better tomorrow._

I took a long swig of the beer mug in my hand, finally finishing it off.

"Should you really be drinking that much?" A young voice cut in.

"Shirou-kun." I acknowledged his presence, but not his question.

"You know, you really are lucky we have enough room for you and your kid to sleep over. With how much you drink I'm surprised your livers aren't poisoned."

That's what I hear a lot.

But really, "It's not safe to let strangers sleep over y'know."

The boy who looked so much like my child rolled his eyes. "You're hardly a stranger by this point. Besides, I'm a good judge of character. Besides, with your kid here you wouldn't try anything unless you were a bad sort of parent, and with a kid like that you wouldn't be. When you discount Drinking habits anyways."

I could only huff. He words it as if I drink enough to impair my ability to get home when the only reason I drink enough to get to that point is because he offered my child and I room every weekend. What a rude child, always teasing others.

My shock at seeing him never fades, and I can't help but hope Luca grows up like Shirou, yet in the same vein, I really hope he doesn't. Shirou has too many girls chasing after him and can be so snarky.

But he's a caring young man, even if he was not a big brother, I believed that much.

I was a good judge of character, after all, I did travel the world quite a bit.

But those times have passed. I'm just a simple mother trying to raise her child alone.

It wasn't very difficult either. I had so much money stored up from my travels to live simply. I still had my job as a photographer on the side, though I considered dropping it to work here with Shirou. Their place was even large enough that Luca and I could stay if we needed to.

Shirou was indeed kind to offer such a thing for us. And he was so strong willed. I just wish that he hadn't gained that will through suffering, as I can see the same look he has in my own reflection.

He was so strong, and in so much pain, yet he forced himself to live for his sister, as I do for my Luca.

I had to resist the urge to to ask once again as Shirou tiredly rubbed one of his scars while closing up the place. The offer was rejected plenty of times by now. Shirou said he would ask himself when both he and Miyu were ready to let others in. Without any parents or guardians, I looked after the two whenever possible, although Shirou was somehow able to make things for them.

I felt nothing but hatred to whoever would hurt these two dear children. There were demons in this world cruel to those who deserved none of it.

I had seen it.

I had seen it too many times.

That is to say, a Hell to those who were without choice.

Even worst to that, a Hell to those who choose to enter themselves, and would pull others into it.

Even my sweetest child, was so nearly dragged into such a Hell from the man who should have never considered such a thing. The bastard...

A hand gently touched my shaking hand.

Shirou, who's eyes were too kind and too sympathetic yet worst of all too understanding.

"I think you've had enough for tonight. There won't be a better tomorrow if you don't look at it. And if you're hungover, you definitely won't want to see it."

What a kind child.

If only, all children could not be hurt as he was.

If shooting stars could truly create miracles.

Then a world like that is worth wishing for.

"It's okay to take a break every now and again Shirou-kun. There would be nothing wrong if you focus on your own life and let others help you."

But if it can't, perhaps enjoying the peaceful tomorrow is enough.

My sweet, kind child is shining as brightly as ever, untouched by Hell. And as long as that was the case, I would ask for nothing else in the world.

* * *

 _Ayaka Chapter 1 - Realizing that I am weak._

In my own self-assessment, my character is the worst.

An indisputable fact. As much as the sky is blue.

As a woman, I'm certainly what one would call a Wallflower or Yamato Nadeshiko. And as a Magus, I can barely even be considered third rate, as my circuits were average in quality and quantity.

To be a Magus is to be cruel, and uncaring of one's own death.

I could do neither, for I had not the heart for it.

My sister, once the beaming pillar, now the enormous wall that could not be surpassed, certainly seemed to think so.

Simply walking with her is a task in itself. Her looks, more foreign in comparison to my own, made her stand out, leaving me to be in the background as she walked in front of me, leaving me behind.

Once, as children, my beloved sister was not so standoffish, she was spontaneous and loving, and I once did her best to be like that.

Once, there was a child kind and courageous, wanting to help others subtly through magecraft.

But then her father died, and suddenly the world and its inhabitants became far scarier. Before I knew it, all I wanted was to be with her sister, who as the years passed, became far less loving and far more critical of her actions.

It was not as if I didn't want to be more than I was, but I had no idea how to be.

Walking with my sister was a commodity rarely indulged nowadays, so I did my best to enjoy it and ignore the false **[empty]** smile of Onee-san.

And then I saw a group converged together accompanied with the feeling of magecraft being emitted.

It had not taken long for me to see what had occurred. The man on the ground was being saved by magecraft.

But what Magus would save another's life?

He was young, around our age, and I felt anxious that there was a possibility he would come to my school.

I could only comfort myself knowing he was unlikely to cause trouble. Surely my sister would stop him, and the Second Owner disliked it when a Magus came to cause trouble, especially ever since that night...

No, I mustn't freeze now of all times. Now with a Magus here in front of me.

The man was saved and sent to the hospital, relieving me a burden I hadn't realized I felt.

I could only tense up once more as he walked over to Onee-san and I. I had to remind myself that there was no way he knew we were magi.

However, just as he was about to pass us, my sister said something I haven't heard in so long, with emotions long since forgotten.

"I love you."

Words that surprised the speaker and the listeners, yet my sister lost that surprise and gained a hint of determination, something I haven't seen since we were children.

This confusion is natural. How did my sister, who held no interest in anyone feel such an affection for a stranger?

I look to see if she's joking- she isn't. That does nothing but confuse me more, why does she seem so focused on him?

Surprisingly, the red haired Magus; who I hesitantly admired, was quite handsome, but did not blush nor accept Onee-san. He spoke of a restaurant he helped at and mentioned it would be open again soon.

I was surprised that he took a look at me, who was in the shadow of my sister. I did not think there was anybody alive or dead who could see past my sister. He looked between us and came to the conclusion we were siblings, and with a smile he invited me as well.

I could only blush and force my heart not to be so excited due to his looks. My stammering response went unheard over the louder response to the invitations.

My sister, once pushy and joyful, stole his attention and followed him, and I could only follow, not truly knowing why I did so.

My sister is wonderful. But once, she was a wonderful sister.

And I, the younger sister, was nothing but a shadow. Incapable of doing anything but following her.


End file.
